Burdened by weather delays that added up to nearly four hours, NASCAR at Homestead-Miami hit a new record-low in the ratings.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami averaged a 1.75 rating and 2.78 million viewers on FOX, marking the lowest rating in the history of the race (dates back to 1999) and the smallest audience since at least 2001. Prior to this year, the race served as the Cup Series season finale.
Denny Hamlin’s win — which was delayed a total of 3 hours and 42 minutes due to inclement weather and did not end until after 10:45 PM ET — declined 20% in ratings and 28% in viewership from last year (2.2, 3.74M) and 30% and 33% respectively from 2018 (2.5, 4.15M). The race aired on NBC and NBCSN in those years.
Ratings and viewership at Homestead have declined in five straight years, though this year’s circumstances come with multiple asterisks. Beyond the weather delays and the loss of championship implications, the race was also pushed back three months due to NASCAR’s pandemic hiatus.
For the first time since it returned last month, NASCAR was not the day’s top sportscast. The final round of the PGA Tour at Colonial averaged a 2.1 and 3.09 million on CBS.
While the rain provides a caveat, Homestead was the lowest rated and least-watched Cup Series event on FOX this season, well below the previous marks of 2.4 (Coca-Cola 600) and 3.96 million (Atlanta the prior week).
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 6.16, weather delay info from AP via Tampa Bay Times 6.15]
