NASCAR Daytona 500 ratings eclipsed the last two rain-addled years, but remained below what had once been the norm.
Sunday’s NASCAR Daytona 500 averaged a 4.7 rating and 8.87 million viewers on FOX (8.88M across all platforms), marking the highest rated and most-watched edition of the race since 2019 (5.3, 9.17M).
Ratings jumped 68% and viewership 81% from last year’s all-time lows of 2.8 and 4.91 million and 7% and 21% respectively from two years ago (4.4, 7.33M). Keep in mind both of those races were severely affected by rain, the former finishing after Midnight ET (the latest ending in 500 history) and the latter primarily run on a Monday.
Compared to the previous 500 to be run as scheduled in 2019, ratings fell 11% and viewership 3% from a 5.3 and 9.17 million. Compared to the previous 500 to run opposite the Winter Olympics in 2018, ratings fell 11% and viewership 5% from a 5.3 and 9.30 million.
Austin Cindric’s win, which peaked with 10.57 million from 6:30-6:45 PM ET, tops only the past two years as the lowest rated and least-watched Daytona 500 on record.
Daytona 500 ratings have been on a downward track for years, but it has only been in the last four years that the race has fallen below the 10 million mark. As recently as 2017, Daytona scored a 6.6 and 11.92 million — figures that were historically low at the time but now look impressively strong.
Despite the historically low numbers, Sunday’s race was the most-watched single network sportscast of the entire week — topping all of NBC’s primetime Olympics windows and the NBA All-Star Game. It dominated competing Olympics coverage head-to-head Sunday afternoon (1.4, 2.26M).
It was Sunday’s most-watched television program of the entire day and ranked second behind Turner’s NBA All-Star Game in 18-49 (1.5), 18-34 (0.9) and 25-54 (2.1).
Daytona 500 ratings, past 20 years
[Nielsen estimates from Fox Sports, ShowBuzz Daily 2.23 a, b]
