NASCAR Ratings Continue to Trend Up vs. 2010

Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 earned the largest audience for a non-Daytona 500 NASCAR race in nearly two years.

FOX earned a 5.9 final rating and 10.346 million viewers for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 Sunday afternoon, up 5% in ratings and 13% in viewership from last year’s comparable race (Fontana: 5.6, 9.151M), and down 2% and up 1%, respectively, from the comparable race in 2009 (Fontana: 6.0, 10.206M).

Compared to last year’s spring Phoenix race, which took place on a Saturday night in April (3.7, 5.977M), Sunday’s telecast was up 60% and 73%, respectively.

This marks the highest rated, most-viewed edition ever of the spring Phoenix race. The previous high was set by the inaugural edition of the race in ’05, which drew 8.758 million viewers.

Excluding the Daytona 500, the Subway Fresh Fit 500 ranks as the most-viewed NASCAR telecast of any kind since the 2009 Shelby 427 from Las Vegas (11.123M).

Compared to the first non-Daytona race of previous seasons, however, Sunday’s race ranks as the second-lowest rated and third-least viewed since 2002. As recently as 2005, the second race of the season drew a 7.9 rating and 12.523 million viewers.

So far this season, all four NASCAR races on FOX (Budweiser Shootout, Daytona 500 Pole Qualifying, Daytona 500 and Subway Fresh Fit 500) have had increases in ratings compared to last year — but all four have had declines compared to 2009.

Ratings/Viewership For NASCAR From Phoenix (Spring Race)

Ratings/Viewership For NASCAR’s Second Race of the Season since 2002

* 2008 Auto Club 500 was postponed due to rain. Ratings and viewership presented are for the rained out Sunday telecast.