Capping off an ugly year for NASCAR ratings, last weekend’s season finale at Homestead hit a record-low.
The NASCAR Cup Series finale from Homestead (Fla.) earned a 2.8 rating and 4.7 million viewers on NBC and NBCSN last Sunday, down 20% in ratings and 23% in viewership from last year (3.5, 6.1M), and down 36% and 39% respectively from 2015 (4.4, 7.6M).
Martin Truex Jr.‘s win, which clinched the Cup Series title, delivered the lowest rating in the history of the race (dates back to 1999) and the smallest audience since at least 2001. The previous lows were a 3.0 and 4.8 million on ESPN in 2012.
Homestead was the 26th of 35 races this season to set an all-time or decade-plus low in ratings and viewership. That excludes the rainout at Bristol in April. Two other races tied a record-low rating, but avoided a viewership low (Texas in April and Kansas in May).
Even by the standards of a lost season for NASCAR ratings, the numbers were surprisingly low. It was Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s final race, and NBC graced the event with its imprimatur of importance — the presence of Bob Costas. NBC and NASCAR surely had higher expectations.
Sunday’s race was not even the most-watched of this year’s playoffs, trailing Talladega a month earlier (4.8M).
Earnhardt Jr.’s farewell tour had little-to-no impact on the ratings this season. Even his final race at Daytona — the track that defined his career — was down slightly on NBC in July.
Not helping matters was Sunday’s relatively early finish of 6:44 PM ET. Race coverage bled into primetime the previous two years, with the 2015 race nearly preempting all of NBC’s Football Night in America NFL pregame. Viewership peaked at 6.3 million from 6:15-6:30 PM ET, compared to a peak of 8.4 million last year (from 6:45-7) and 12.4 million in 2015 (7:45-7:56).
Overall, the complete NASCAR Cup Series season averaged 4.1 million viewers across NBC, NBCSN, FOX and FS1, per Sports Business Daily — down 11% from last year (4.6M) and down 18% from 2015 (5.0M), both of which exclude rainouts. Compared to the 2014 season, the last under the previous TV deal, viewership fell 22% from 5.3 million.
[Numbers from Sports Business Daily 11.22]
