Ratings: NASCAR, F1, Olympic Trials and more

The inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Motor Speedway averaged a 1.5 rating and 2.59 million viewers on NBCSN last Sunday, up a tick in ratings and 10% in viewership compared to the other new race this season, at Circuit of the Americas on FS1 in May (1.4, 2.36M).

Kyle Larson’s win, which peaked with 2.8 million viewers, declined 14% in ratings and 5% in viewership from NBC Sports’ first race last season at Texas (1.7, 2.73), but increased 4% and 8% respectively from the network’s 2019 opener from the now-defunct Chicagoland (1.4, 2.41M). It averaged a 4.1 rating in Nashville, per The Tennessean.

The previous day’s Xfinity Series race at Nashville drew a 0.61 and 1.06 million on NBCSN, peaking at 1.2 million — the series’ largest cable audience since Atlanta in March (1.14M). The Truck Series race there drew a 0.32 and 536,000 last Friday on FS1, peaking at 602,000.

Last Sunday’s Formula 1 French Grand Prix averaged a 0.6 rating and 1.06 million viewers on ESPN, trailing only the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix (1.74M) as the most-watched F1 race ever on cable. Regardless of network, Max Verstappen’s win ranks as the most-watched F1 race since the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix on ABC (1.13M).

Compared to the previous edition of the race in 2019, ratings doubled and viewership jumped 119% (from 483K).

Formula 1 races are now averaging 930,000 viewers on the ESPN networks, up 35% from the first seven races of last year’s delayed season (691K) and 30% from the first seven races in 2019 (717K). Compared to previous full-season averages, this year’s average is up 53% from last year and 38% from 2019.

Aided by a direct lead-in from golf’s U.S. Open, the final night of the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials averaged 3.54 million viewers on NBC last Sunday — down 11% from coverage in 2016 that included both swimming and track (3.98M). It was the most-watched telecast of the Olympic Trials thus far (through Sunday), regardless of sport.

Coverage the previous night averaged 2.40 million, up 155% from a 2016 window on NBCSN (940K). It was NBC’s only telecast of the swimming trials to increase over ’16. The network also pulled 1.99 million last Friday (-58%) and 2.85 million last Thursday (-46%), both of which aired in special late windows to accommodate the U.S. Open.

As for the track and field trials, coverage averaged 2.38 million on Friday (-49%), 2.86 million on Saturday and 3.53 million on Sunday (-11%).

The second edition of the Superstar Racing Experience averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.23 million viewers on CBS last Saturday night, down just 5% in viewership from the previous week’s inaugural edition (1.30M). … IndyCar at Road America averaged 800,000 viewers on NBCSN, marking the largest IndyCar audience on cable since Mid-Ohio in 2016, and the third-largest since NBCSN began airing races in 2009. NBCSN is now averaging 530,000 viewers for IndyCar this season (including additional streaming data not tracked by Nielsen), up 59% from the same number of races last year and up 38% from 2019. … Last Saturday’s Sun-Sky WNBA regular season game averaged 427,000 viewers on CBS, up 6% from the network’s lone telecast last season. It was just the second WNBA game ever on the CBS broadcast network.