NASCAR tied its highest rating of the season at Talladega.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega averaged a 2.8 rating and 4.70 million viewers on FOX, tying the season-opening Daytona 500 and subsequent Daytona Roval as the highest rated telecast of the season. It trails only those races as the most-watched, with the Roval second (4.75M) and 500 first (4.83M).
The obvious caveat is that Daytona did not set the bar very high.
Ratings were flat and viewership increased 4% from the last time Talladega was run as scheduled two years ago (2.8, 4.52M). Compared to last year’s “spring” Talladega race, a Monday makeup in June, ratings increased a third (from 2.1) and viewership 41% (from 3.33M).
Brad Keselowski’s win, which peaked with 6.27 million viewers, still tied the lowest spring rating at Talladega since 1997 (excluding rainouts) and averaged the second-smallest audience for the event in the past two decades. Only the aforementioned 2019 race was lower.
Talladega was nonetheless the top sporting event of the weekend and ranked third among all television programs in adults 18-49 (0.73). Only the Academy Awards (2.1) and its preshow (0.74) did better.
The corresponding Xfinity Series race pulled a 1.0 and 1.60 million on FOX Saturday — up 60% in ratings and viewership from June of last year (0.65, 998K) and up 65% and 62% respectively from the previous April edition in 2019 (0.63, 988K). Keep in mind the race aired on FS1 in those years.
The ARCA Series at Talladega rounded out the weekend slate with a 0.29 (+21%) and 471,000 (+31%).
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 4.27 a, b; Fox Sports PR]
