NASCAR’s Texas 500 put up solid numbers compared to the other Chase For The Cup races on ESPN this season, but hit a record low in ratings and viewership.
ESPN drew a 2.9 U.S. rating and 4.846 million viewers for the Texas 500 on Sunday afternoon, down 22% in ratings and 17% in viewership from last year’s race (3.7, 5.827 mil, ABC), and down 22% and 18%, respectively, from 2008 (3.7, 5.890 mil, ABC).
This marks the lowest rated, least-viewed edition of the Texas 500 (previously the Dickies 500) since the race debuted in 2005. For some perspective, the inaugural edition of the race drew a 5.1 and 8.066 million viewers on NBC.
Though down from recent years, the Texas 500 ranks as the second-highest rated, second-most viewed Chase For The Cup race on ESPN this season — trailing only the previous week’s Amp Energy Juice 500 (3.1, 5.177 mil).
Six of the eight Chase races this year have drawn less than a 3.0 rating. Prior to this year, only two Chase races had ever dipped below 3.0.
Overall this season, nine Sprint Cup races have drawn less than a 3.0 rating, and twelve have drawn less than five million viewers. Last year, only one race dipped below 3.0, and only two drew less than five million.
Of the 29 NASCAR races that can be compared to last year, 24 have had declines in ratings and 23 have had declines in viewership.
Sunday’s race still managed to finish as the tenth-most viewed program of the week on cable, and the fifth-most viewed when election programming is excluded. The race was cable’s second-most viewed sporting event of the week, trailing only Monday Night Football.
(Rating from ESPN; weekly cable rankings from TV By The Numbers)
UPDATED 11/16/2010: Through the Texas 500, twelve NASCAR races had drawn less than five million viewers, not the eleven previously reported.
