For the second straight week, a NASCAR Sprint Cup race was the lowest rated since the late 1990s.
Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Pure Michigan 400 earned a 3.0 U.S. rating and 4.6 million viewers on ESPN, down 9% in ratings and 12% in viewership from last year (3.3, 5.2M), and down 6% and 9%, respectively, from 2011 (3.2, 5.0M).
Excluding rainouts, the 3.0 rating is the lowest for the season’s second Michigan race since at least 1998. Viewership was also the lowest for the race since at least 2000.
Sprint Cup television ratings have been slumping in recent weeks. The August 11 Watkins Glen race was the lowest rated since at least 1999, the August 4 race from Pocono was the second-lowest rated since at least 1998, and the July 28 race from the Brickyard was the second-lowest rated in race history.
For the week, the race ranked as the fourth-highest rated and sixth-most viewed program on cable.
(Sun. numbers from ESPN)
