A return to the traditional oval format boosted NASCAR Brickyard 400 ratings to a four-year high — despite major breaking news competition.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway averaged a 2.1 rating and 3.63 million viewers on NBC, up 26% in ratings and 28% in viewership from last year (1.7, 2.84M) and the highest rated and most-watched edition of the race since 2020, the previous year it took place on the traditional oval (2.7, 4.34M). The race was contested on a road course the prior three years and aired in August opposite the NFL preseason in two of those three years.
Kyle Larson’s win, which peaked with 4.5 million viewers in the 5:45 PM ET quarter-hour, moved to USA Network at 6 PM ET and averaged a 1.3 and 2.34 million during its half-hour conclusion.
The NBC portion of the race was the most-watched sportscast of the weekend, topping Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game (3.44M) and Sunday’s final round of the British Open (3.19M).
Race coverage was preempted by, and had to compete with, breaking news coverage of the sitting president’s decision not to seek another term in office — marking the second-straight weekend on which one of the presidential candidates was the subject of rolling news coverage.
The cable news networks averaged more viewers on than the previous Sunday — when they were covering the aftermath of an assassination attempt on the other candidate — and nearly five times as many viewers as two weeks ago, when there was no breaking news of note.
In other NASCAR action, Saturday’s corresponding Xfinity Series race averaged a 0.65 (+14%) and 1.16 million (+13%) on USA, the network’s most-watched Xfinity Series race since 2022. Friday’s Truck Series race pulled a 0.24 (-4%) and 432,000 (+7%) on FS1, the network’s top sportscast of the week.
