Any hopes that NASCAR ratings would bounce back from Daytona were washed away by the rain last weekend.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series from Atlanta earned a 3.3 rating and 5.6 million viewers on FOX, down 13% in ratings and 15% in viewership from last year (3.8, 6.6M) and down 20% and 17% respectively from 2016 (4.1, 6.8M). The race was scheduled to begin at 2 PM ET, pushed up to 1 PM, and then delayed until 3:30.
The later start pushed the race in direct competition with NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage, but the Games were not significant competition. NBC’s afternoon window had a mere 1.85 rating and 2.8 million viewers. ABC’s competing NBA game was a tougher foe (1.9, 3.0M).
With rain providing a caveat, Kevin Harvick‘s win ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched Atlanta race since 2014 — the last year it aired in the fall on ESPN (3.2, 5.2M). Since scoring a 5.6 and 9.5 million just three years ago, ratings and viewership for the race have declined in each successive year.
In addition, ratings and viewership were the lowest for the second Cup Series race of the season in at least 20 years. The second race has historically been NASCAR’s strongest draw outside of Daytona. It exceeded ten million viewers as recently as 2011 (Phoenix: 5.9, 10.3M). A decade ago, it managed a 6.2 and 10.9 million for rainout coverage opposite the Academy Awards.
Despite the lower numbers, NASCAR on FOX ranked as the highest rated and most-watched non-Olympic sporting event of the weekend. It topped ABC’s Thunder-Warriors NBA game the previous night (2.5, 4.1M). In adults 18-49, NASCAR ranked second behind Thunder-Warriors (1.4 to 1.1).
[Wknd. numbers from ShowBuzz Daily 2.27]
