NASCAR scored a double-digit jump and three-year high at Kansas.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Kansas averaged a 2.0 rating and 3.30 million viewers on NBC, per Nielsen fast-nationals — marking the highest rated and most-watched edition of the race since 2016 (2.1, 3.45M).
It was the 13th race to increase over last year — the most in a single season since 2013 — but the first of those to hit a multi-year high.
Denny Hamlin’s win, which peaked with 4.11 million viewers from 5:30-5:45 PM ET, increased 18% in ratings and 20% in viewership from last year on NBC (1.7, 2.75M) and 2017 on NBCSN (1.7, 2.76M). Including streaming, it had 3.32 million viewers, still up 20%.
The 20% increase is the second-biggest for any race this season. Texas had a 29% bump in April, but that race moved up from FS1 last year to FOX this year.
Excluding postponements, the last race to post a bigger jump without switching networks was Daytona on NBC in 2016. That race increased 26% in ratings and 43% in viewership over the previous year, when coverage was rain-delayed until after 11 PM ET.
Excluding all weather-affected races, the increase was the biggest for any Cup Series race since the 2011.
The race delivered NASCAR’s highest rating and largest audience since Daytona in July, which averaged a 2.1 and 3.29 million despite being postponed a day. Among races that were run as scheduled, it ranks as the top draw since Charlotte on FOX in May (2.6, 4.26M).
Including streaming, NBC’s NASCAR viewership this season is up 4% to 2.55 million.
Even with the big jump, the race still earned its third-lowest rating since at least 2000 and its third-smallest audience since at least 2001.
[Nielsen estimates from NBC Sports PR 10.21]
