As has become a borderline tradition, rain once again wreaked havoc on the Daytona 500 and its television ratings.
Postponed a day due to rain, Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 averaged a 3.3 rating and 5.96 million viewers on FOX — topping only the 2021 edition as the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the race (2.8, 4.91M). The 2021 race took place on Sunday but was delayed for so long that it finished after Midnight ET.
William Byron’s win declined 25% and 27% respectively from last year, when the race was run as scheduled on a Sunday (4.4, 8.17M).
Compared to the previous 500 to take place primarily on a Monday — four years ago — ratings fell 11% and viewership 21% from a 4.2 and 7.03 million. (The 2020 figure excludes the 20 laps that were run as scheduled on Sunday.) The only other Monday Daytona 500 was the 2012 edition, a primetime race that was delayed after Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a jet dryer and caused a fiery explosion. FOX averaged an 8.0 and 13.67 million that year.
The Daytona 500 has now experienced lengthy delays in seven of its past 16 runnings — 2009 (rain), 2010 (potholes), 2012 (rain and the jet dryer explosion), 2020 (rain), 2021 (rain) and 2024 (rain). As should be no surprise, ratings and viewership declined in each of those years.
Despite the lower numbers, the Daytona 500 was still the most-watched sporting event of Presidents Day weekend, topping Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game on TNT, TBS and truTV (2.6, 5.40M).
Following the 500, the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona averaged 933,000 viewers on FS1. That race was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday and then rescheduled for Monday morning at 11 before eventually shifting to primetime. As one would expect, viewership declined sharply from last year’s edition, which ran as scheduled (1.69M).
Daytona Speedweeks had been trending up prior to the weekend rain. Viewership increased 3% for Friday’s Truck Series opener, 7% for Thursday’s Duel at Daytona, and 3% for last Wednesday’s Daytona qualifying, all on FS1.
The only other NASCAR event this year was the preseason “Clash,” which despite taking place in typically-sunny Southern California had to move up a day due to severe weather. Moved from FOX to FS1, that race also declined from last year.
