NASCAR Atlanta ratings hit a new low, but the numbers were not bad by June standards.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Atlanta averaged a 2.5 rating and 3.96 million viewers on FOX, marking the highest rated and most-watched race in the month of June since Sonoma on TNT in 2014 (2.8, 4.68M). Keep in mind June races typically air on cable.
There was no race on the same weekend last year, as Michigan was postponed to Monday due to rain.
Excluding rainouts, Kevin Harvick’s win ranks as the lowest rated edition of the race since at least 1998 and the least-watched since at least 2001. That comes with the caveat that the race was postponed three months from its scheduled March date.
Ratings declined 19% and viewership 22% from last year’s Atlanta race, which was run as scheduled (3.1, 5.07M).
Dating back to mid-March, when the majority of sporting events were called off, Sunday’s race ranks as the 17th most-watched sportscast on any network — behind all ten episodes of ESPN’s “The Last Dance,” all three days of the NFL Draft, the golf exhibition “The Match,” and NASCAR’s previous races at Darlington and Charlotte.
It should be noted that while Darlington was a strong draw by NASCAR’s current standards — the most-watched Cup Series race outside of Daytona since 2017 — subsequent races have been in line with the pre-pandemic norm.
Atlanta ranks as the least-watched Cup Series race on FOX this season, with the caveat that some of the network’s traditionally-weak races — Richmond for example — were not run.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 6.9]
