NASCAR Las Vegas ratings hit a new low.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Las Vegas averaged a 2.6 rating and 4.36 million viewers on FOX, marking the lowest rated edition of the race since it debuted in 1998 and the smallest audience since at least 2001 (viewership prior to 2002 was not available). Ratings fell 19% and viewership 21% from last year, when it was the second race of the season (3.2, 5.50M).
Compared to last year’s fourth race of the season, Phoenix, ratings fell a tick (from 2.7) and viewership 5% (from 4.58M). All four Cup Series races this season have declined from the corresponding weeks of last season, though this week’s drop was the smallest thus far.
The previous two races — the Daytona Roval and Homestead-Miami — posted double-digit increases over the same Cup Series stops last season, but those races had the benefit of moving up from the lower-rated summer portion of the schedule. Las Vegas, by contrast, moved back from the coveted week after the Daytona 500.
For the first time this season, NASCAR was not the top sporting event of the weekend, trailing the NBA All-Star Game on TNT and TBS (3.1, 5.94M). It still ranked second ahead of the competing final round of the PGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational on NBC (2.4, 3.86M).
In other NASCAR action, the Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas turned in a 0.7 and 1.28 million. Last year’s Xfinity race at the track aired on FS2 and had a 0.21 and 341,000. Compared to the fourth Xfinity race of last season, from Phoenix, ratings fell a tick (from 0.8) but viewership increased (from 1.19M).
NASCAR viewership, first four races of season
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 3.9]
