The Loneliest Number: NASCAR Hits New Low

NASCAR ratings hit a new low last weekend.

Last Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Richmond (Va.) earned a 1.0 rating and 1.77 million viewers on NBCSN, down 17% in ratings and viewership from last year (1.2, 2.14M) and down 38% and 34% respectively from 2016 (1.6, 2.71M).

Kyle Busch‘s win ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched NASCAR Cup Series race since at least 2000. The previous lows were a 1.2 (multiple races) and 1.99 million (New Hampshire last year). Six of the ten lowest rated and least-watched races have taken place this season alone.

More races have had less than a 1.5 rating this season than in the previous 17 seasons combined.

As recently as 2014 — the last year of NASCAR’s previous television deal — not a single Cup Series race had less than a 2.3 rating or 3.6 million viewers. Fewer than half of this season’s races have managed to match or surpass those marks.

Of the 24 Cup Series races that can be compared to last year, Richmond was the 21st to post double-digit declines in ratings and viewership. Each of those 21 has hit a multi-year low, with 20 falling to all-time or decade-plus lows.

Notably, Saturday’s race had a lower rating among adults 18-34 (0.15) than a 3 AM ET edition of NFL Matchup on ESPN (0.17).

Lowest NASCAR Ratings, Viewership (2001-Present)

This year’s races highlighted

[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 9.25 a, b]