With Jeff Gordon coming out of retirement to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 scored a double-digit increase over last year.
NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Indianapolis earned a 3.1 rating and 5.2 million viewers on NBCSN Sunday afternoon, up 3% in ratings and 11% in viewership from last year (3.0, 4.7M). Compared to 2014 on ESPN, ratings dipped 9% (from 3.4) but viewership increased a fraction of a percent (from 5.20M to 5.22M).
Kyle Busch‘s win, in which Gordon finished 13th, ranks as the highest rated and most-watched program in the history of NBCSN (previously VERSUS and OLN). The previous highs were set by last year’s race. It also ranks as the most-watched Brickyard 400 since 2013 (5.5M), becoming the first Sprint Cup race this season to hit a multi-year high.
For the season, it was the third of the past five Sprint Cup races to post an increase in ratings and viewership. Excluding races that were postponed either this year or last, seven of 17 races have posted an increase in ratings and/or viewership.
Despite the stronger performance, Sunday’s race still ranked low historically. In the 23 runnings of the Brickyard 400, this year’s race ranks as the second-lowest rated and the fifth least-watched. As recently as a decade ago, it had a 5.5 and 8.6 million viewers in its last appearance on a broadcast network (NBC).
The increase in ratings and viewership was a turnaround from the overnight ratings, which were down a tick (2.9 to 2.8).
(Sun. numbers from NBC Sports)
