NASCAR scored its largest audience at Homestead in four years, though the numbers could not match week three of last season.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Homestead-Miami averaged a 2.5 rating and 4.24 million viewers on FOX, marking the largest audience for the event since 2017 (4.66M). Prior to last year, Homestead served as the Cup Series finale.
William Byron’s win increased 42% in ratings and 53% in viewership from last year, when the race was postponed from its original March date to June (1.75, 2.78M), and 13% in both measures from 2019 — when it last served as the season finale and aired on NBC and NBCSN (2.2, 3.74M).
Compared to the third race of last season — the Auto Club 400 from Fontana — ratings fell 14% and viewership 11% from a 2.9 and 4.79 million.
Homestead was the second-straight race to jump by more than 40% in ratings and viewership over the previous year’s edition, joining the Daytona Roval, but both races declined double-digits from the corresponding weeks of last season. It is worth noting that NASCAR ratings are typically strongest early in the season, and both Homestead and the Daytona Roval took place in the summer last year.
As is typical this time of year, NASCAR took top honors as the top sports broadcast of the weekend — both overall and in the adults 18-49 demographic.
In other NASCAR action, the Xfinity Series race at Homestead averaged a 0.7 and 1.24 million. Last year, the track hosted two Xfinity Series races — one on FOX that had a 0.9 and 1.46 million, and another on FS1 that drew a 0.49 and 715,000.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 3.2]
