With the NBA dominating Sunday night, NASCAR ratings took another plunge on FOX.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Charlotte 600 earned a 2.3 rating and 4.1 million viewers on FOX, down 18% in ratings and 12% in viewership from last year (2.8, 4.6M) and down 32% and 29% respectively from 2016 (3.4, 5.7M).
Kyle Busch‘s win ranks as the lowest rated edition of the race since at least 1996 and the least-watched since at least 2000. Ratings and viewership for the race have now declined in seven consecutive years.
All 11 Cup Series races this season have declined double-digits, with all-but-one hitting an all-time or decade-plus low.
The 2.3 rating is tied as the fifth-lowest for any Cup Series race on broadcast television since at least 2000, matching last year’s Bristol Night Race on NBC. Two of the five lowest ratings have come this season alone, with Richmond pulling a 1.8 on FOX last month.
Keep in mind that the race faced unusually stiff NBA competition. Game 7 of the Cavaliers-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals had a 7.3 rating and 13.3 million viewers on ESPN.
NASCAR trailed the day’s other major auto race, the Indianapolis 500, by 26% in ratings (2.3 to 3.1) and 17% in viewership (4.1M to 4.9M). It was the biggest gap between the two events since 2000.
Though the Coke 600 was no match for the Indy 500, NASCAR’s Daytona 500 remains a much bigger draw. That race had a 5.3 and 9.3 million in February. Both Daytona and Indy hit all-time record lows.
NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 Ratings, Viewership
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 5.30]
