In an attempt to combat declining ratings, NASCAR races will have consistent, earlier start times next season.
Starting next season, NASCAR races on the East Coast will primarily begin at 1 PM ET, with West Coast races starting at 3 PM ET and night races starting at 7:30 PM ET. The lone exception to this is the Coca Cola 600 next May, which will begin at 5:45 PM.
The new start times are earlier than in previous years. The 1 PM start for the ’10 Daytona 500 is two-and-a-half hours earlier than the start for this year’s race (3:30 PM ET), and marks the earliest start for the race since ’03. Meanwhile, the Auto Club 500 will start 3 hours earlier, and the Shelby 427 will begin 90 minutes earlier. Overall, 28 of NASCAR’s 36 races in 2010 will have earlier starts.
Fans had previously complained about the trend of NASCAR races beginning later in the day. In a conference call discussing the scheduling changes, FOX Sports Chairman David Hill acknowledged that “traditional, early Sunday afternoon, start times are favored by NASCAR fans who both attend races and watch on television.” Additionally, “research has shown NASCAR fans are entrenched in their tradition of noon to 1 p.m. starts.”
Fans may be happy with the move, but will earlier start times have a positive effect on ratings? Ratings typically increase later in the day — one of the primary reasons NASCAR shifted to later start times in the first place. So far this season, the three highest-rated, most-viewed NASCAR races (including the Daytona 500) began after 3:30 PM ET.
Additionally, the highest rated, most-viewed NASCAR race of the decade began at 2:30 PM ET (2006 Daytona 500).
NASCAR is just the latest sport to jump on to the early-start bandwagon. Major League Baseball has moved up the start of weeknight World Series games to 7:57 PM ET, while the NBA moved up the start of Sunday night NBA Finals games to 8 PM ET.
