Facing not only Sunday Night Football but the NBA Playoffs as well, NASCAR Las Vegas ratings sank double-digits from last year.
Last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race from Las Vegas averaged a 1.15 rating and 1.97 million viewers on NBCSN, marking the lowest rating and viewership in the young history of the race (debuted in 2018). Ratings fell 19% and viewership 17% from last year (1.4, 2.38M) and 10% and 8% respectively from ’18 (1.3, 2.14M).
As one would expect, Kurt Busch’s win was dominated by NBC’s competing Sunday Night Football game (Packers-Saints: 10.0, 17.80M). While SNF was slightly less of a draw than last year, the night was more competitive thanks to the addition of an NBA conference final game on ESPN (Celtics-Heat Game 6: 1.8, 3.45M).
For the season, only one Sunday race has averaged fewer viewers than Las Vegas: Dover opposite the Indy 500 in August (1.95M).
After opening with a double-digit bump at Darlington, the NASCAR playoffs have now posted three straight declines. Even so, the four playoff races were NBCSN’s four most-watched programs of September — no small feat in a month that included the Stanley Cup Final.
In other action, the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas averaged a 0.45 (-2%) and 764,000 (+3%) on NBCSN the previous night.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 9.30]
