NASCAR’s season finale suffered a steep decline in the metered markets, but was at least able to avoid another multi-year low.
NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Homestead (FL), the final race in the Chase For the Cup, had a 3.3 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon — down 25% from last year (4.4) but up 14% from 2014 on ESPN (2.9). Last year’s race, which preempted much of NBC’s NFL pregame show, was the highest rated at Homestead since 2005.
Jimmie Johnson‘s win, which clinched his seventh Sprint Cup title, scored the second-best Homestead overnight since 2011 (3.7). Going back further, it tied the fifth-lowest overnight for the race since it became NASCAR’s season finale in 2002.
For the season, Sunday’s 3.3 is tied with the Firecracker 400 from Daytona as the highest overnight of the season on the NBC family of networks. Six races on FOX delivered a higher mark.
(Sun. numbers from USA Today 11/21)
