The six-week NASCAR on TNT “Summer Series” got off to a mediocre start over the weekend.
Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Party in the Poconos 400 earned a 2.8 U.S. rating and 4.4 million viewers on TNT, down 13% in ratings and 17% in viewership from last year (3.2, 5.3M), and down 10% and 19%, respectively, from 2011 (3.1, 5.2M).
The 2.8 rating is the lowest for the season’s first Pocono race since at least 2000. The previous low was a 3.0 for the 2007 race.
The race also ranks as the second-lowest rated and second-least viewed Sprint Cup telecast of the season, ahead of only the Sprint Cup All-Star Race on Speed Channel in May (2.3, 3.7M).
Despite the lower numbers, Sunday’s race ranked as the fifth-most viewed television program of the week on cable.
(Sunday’s numbers from Bloomberg, TV By the Numbers)
