After hitting a record-low opposite NBA competition last year, NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 rebounded in the ratings.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte earned a 2.6 rating and 4.26 million viewers on FOX, up 13% in ratings and 4% in viewership from last year, when coverage aired opposite an NBA conference final Game 7 (2.3, 4.09M), but down 7% and 8% respectively from 2017 (2.8, 4.64M).
Martin Truex Jr.‘s win, which peaked with 4.64 million from 10:30-10:45 PM ET, was the sixth Cup Series race this season to post an increase in ratings and/or viewership. That is tied with 2013 as the most at this point of the season since 2011 (seven).
It was the first edition of the race to increase since 2011, snapping a streak of seven straight declines.
Even with the increase, the race posted its second-lowest rating since at least 1996 and its second-smallest audience since at least 2000. Ratings and viewership remain well below the levels of just five years ago, when it had a 4.1 and 6.96 million.
For the fifth straight year, the Coca-Cola 600 was outdrawn by the Indianapolis 500 (3.4, 5.44M). The Indy 500 had 1.18 million more viewers, its biggest win since the 600 moved to FOX in 2001, and largest gap between the races since 2004 — when NASCAR won by 2.24 million.
The margin was much closer in adults 18-49, with the Indy 500 coming out ahead in a virtual tie, 0.74 to 0.72.
For the season, NASCAR races on the FOX broadcast network averaged 5.00 million viewers — up 3% from the network’s schedule last season (4.86M).
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 5.29; Fox Sports]
