It was a routine week for NASCAR, in that ratings hit another low.
The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs from Kansas earned a 1.7 rating and 2.75 million viewers on NBC last Sunday, flat in ratings and down a fraction of a percent in viewership from last year on NBCSN (1.7, 2.76M), and down 19% and 20% respectively from 2016 on NBC (2.1, 3.45M).
Chase Elliott‘s win ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched Cup Series race on broadcast television since at least 2000. The previous lows were a 1.8 (two races) and 2.86 million (Charlotte last year).
In addition, it ranks as the least-watched Kansas race since at least 2001. The previous lows were set last year. A decade ago, the race had a 3.2 and 5.25 million on ABC.
Kansas was the 11th Cup Series race in the current television deal to move up from cable to broadcast television, and only the second of those to decline. The other was the 2015 Texas race on NBC, which dipped four percent from the previous year on ESPN.
For the season, Kansas was the 24th of 28 Cup Series races to post a decline in ratings and/or viewership, and the 23rd to set or tie an all-time or decade-plus low.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 10.23]
