For the eighth time in nine races, NASCAR hit a multi-year low in ratings and viewership.
NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Dover, the third race in the Chase For the Cup, earned a 1.5 final rating and 2.6 million viewers on NBCSN Sunday afternoon — down 21% in ratings and viewership from last year (1.9, 3.2M) and down 35% and 32%, respectively, from 2014 on ESPN (2.3, 3.8M).
Excluding rainouts, Martin Truex Jr.‘s win ranks as the lowest rated Chase For the Cup race ever (120 dating back to 2004) — falling below the previous mark set a week earlier at New Hampshire (from 1.55 to 1.53). The Chase has now earned a record-low rating in three straight weeks. Sunday’s race narrowly avoided a viewership low by edging New Hampshire (2.56M to 2.54M).
Ratings and viewership were also the lowest for the fall Dover race since at least 2000 and 2001, respectively, falling below the previous marks set last year.
Again excluding rainouts, nine of the past ten NASCAR races have hit a multi-year low in ratings and viewership. Each of those nine has either set a record-low or hit the lowest mark in at least 15 years, and seven of those nine have dropped double-digits from the previous low. Keep in mind that only one of those races, Watkins Glen, had the excuse of facing the Olympics.
While multi-year lows have become the rule for NASCAR in recent years, the especially steep downturn of late may be due in part to the absence of Dale Earnhardt. Jr, who has missed every race since Kentucky.
| NASCAR RATINGS/VIEWERSHIP Past 10 races, excluding rainouts *: First year of race; ‡: Data unavailable prior to listed year |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race | Net | Rtg. | +/- | Lowest Since | Vwrs. | +/- | Lowest Since |
| Kentucky | NBCSN | 1.9 | -5% | 2011* | 3.19M | -1% | 2011* |
| N. Hampshire I | NBCSN | 2.1 | -13% | 1998‡ | 3.30M | -10% | 2000‡ |
| Brickyard | NBCSN | 3.1 | +3% | — | 5.22M | +11% | — |
| Watkins Glen | USA | 2.3 | -8% | 1999‡ | 3.83M | -4% | 2001‡ |
| Michigan | NBCSN | 2.1 | -19% | 1998‡ | 3.38M | -21% | 2000‡ |
| Darlington | NBC | 2.8 | -24% | 2000 | 4.64M | -22% | 2001‡ |
| Richmond | NBCSN | 1.6 | -11% | 2001‡ | 2.71M | -12% | 2001‡ |
| Chicago | NBCSN | 1.6 | -16% | 2001* | 2.69M | -17% | 2001* |
| N. Hampshire II | NBCSN | 1.55 | -14% | 2000‡ | 2.54M | -14% | 2001‡ |
| Dover | NBCSN | 1.5 | -21% | 2000‡ | 2.56M | -21% | 2001‡ |
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 10/4)
