NASCAR ratings are holding up better than usual this season, but there are still a number of duds in the mix.
Last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Pocono earned a 1.45 rating and 2.39 million viewers on FS1, down 11% in ratings and viewership from last year (1.6, 2.67M) and down a third in both measures from 2017 (2.2, 3.56M).
Excluding rainouts, Kyle Busch‘s win was the lowest rated edition of the race since at least 2000 and the least-watched since at least 2001. Ratings and viewership were half as high as five years ago, when the race had a 3.0 and 4.48 million on TNT.
While viewership has increased for six races so far this season — the most at this point of the season since 2013 — the majority have hit multi-year lows. Pocono was the eighth race to set-or-tie a ratings low, and the seventh to do so in viewership.
Richmond, Va., led all markets for Sunday’s race with a 5.3. Greenville, NC, ranked second at a 4.9, followed by Greensboro, NC (4.5), Charlotte (4.0) and Norfolk, Va. (3.5).
Pocono ranks ahead of only Kansas last month (2.18M) as the least-watched Cup Series race this season. For the weekend, it ranked fifth among sporting events behind the NBA and NHL finals, MLB on FOX, and Sunday PGA Tour coverage on CBS.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 6.4]
