NASCAR avoided a third straight record-low for the Chase For the Cup, but still had a rough outing at Dover.
NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Dover drew 3.2 million viewers on NBCSN Sunday afternoon, down 14% from last year (3.8M) and down 18% from 2013 (4.0M), both of which aired on ESPN. The rating was not immediately available.
Kevin Harvick‘s win ranks as the least-watched edition of the race since at least 2001, falling below the previous mark of 3.6 million in 2012. The race had 5.5 million viewers as recently as 2007 on broadcast network ABC. All 17 NASCAR races on cable this season have either had record-low viewership or the smallest audience in more than ten years.
The race also earned the third-smallest audience ever for a Chase For the Cup telecast (dates back to 2004). This year’s three Chase telecasts rank as the three least-watched ever, with last week’s New Hampshire race dead last (2.9M).
Six NASCAR races this season have had fewer than 3.5 million viewers, compared to zero in the nine previous seasons combined (excluding rainouts).
(Sun. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)
