The Daytona 500 rebounded from last year’s Monday edition, but remained on the low side historically thanks to a rain delay that pushed the finish into a competitive primetime window.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 averaged a 3.4 rating and 6.76 million viewers on FOX, up a tick in ratings and 13% in viewership from last year, when the race was postponed to Monday (3.3, 5.96M), but down 22% and 17% respectively from the previous Sunday edition two years ago, which was run as scheduled (4.4, 8.17M).
William Byron’s win tops only last year and 2021 — when rain pushed the finish past Midnight ET — as the least-watched Daytona 500, but it surpassed those two years to rank as the most-watched rain-impacted edition since 2020 (7.33M).
As has become an annual issue at Daytona, this year’s race was significantly impacted by rain. The start time was moved up an hour from 2:30 to 1:30, but the start was still delayed to 2:06 PM ET. Viewership opened at 7.96 million viewers — the highest since 2022 (8.13M) — but racing was halted after just 14 minutes.
Racing resumed at 5:30, but just for 25 minutes. The bulk of the race ran from 6:15 to 9:46 PM ET, with the restart opening at 5.3 million, rising to 6.3 million at 7:30, dipping to 6.1 million when NBC’s Saturday Night Live special started, and recovering to 7.5 million for the final quarter-hour.
It is hard to know exactly where the Daytona 500 stands in the ratings given the sheer number of weather-impacted editions of late. Only twice since 2019 has the race been run as scheduled, 2022 and 2023. Not coincidentally, those are the only years since 2019 in which the race topped the eight million mark.
On Saturday, the Xfinity Series opener at Daytona averaged a 0.9 and 1.825 million on CW — the largest audience for the race since 2018 (1.845M) and an increase of 8% from the last time it was run as scheduled on FS1 in 2023 (1.7M). The race, which peaked with 2.2 million viewers, delivered the largest Xfinity Series audience since April 2022.
Earlier in the day, the ARCA Series race from Daytona averaged a 0.65 and 1.2 million on FOX — up big from the last time it was run as scheduled in 2023, when it aired on FS1 (846K). It was the most-watched ARCA race since 2010, when Danica Patrick made her stock car racing debut.
As previously reported, the only decline of Speedweeks was for the Truck Series opener on FS1 Friday night, which drew 1.01 million viewers (-4%).
