Sports Ratings Tracker

Last weekend’s rain-delayed NASCAR Cup Series race from Atlanta averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.47 million viewers on TNT Sports, per the official Nielsen “Big Data + Panel” methodology, and a 0.9 and 1.57 million per the old ‘panel-only’ metric NASCAR is now publicizing — both down from last year’s race at the track, which was not as severely delayed (1.61M).

Unlike last year’s half-hour delay, this year’s nearly three-hour interruption resulted in the race finishing shortly before 2 AM ET, the latest for a Cup Series event since Darlington in 2019.

The race had been averaging 2.5 million (“panel only”) and 2.4 million (“Big Data + Panel”) before the delay, which was excluded from the viewership averages. At one point, TNT showed reruns of “Wipeout” for nearly two hours.

The previous day’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race had a 0.6 and 1.01 million on CW.

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway averaged a 1.2 rating and 2.45 million viewers across TNT (2.3M) and truTV (169K), marking the smallest Cup Series audience at the venue (excluding rainouts), but the largest NASCAR audience since the Coca-Cola 600 on Prime Video in May.

Bubba Wallace’s win, which peaked with 3.1 million in the 5:30 PM ET quarter-hour, declined sharply from last year’s Brickyard 400 — which despite breaking news preemptions and competition still averaged a 2.1 and 3.63 million on NBC.

Saturday’s corresponding Xfinity Series race averaged a 0.6 and 1.11 million on CW, down slightly from last year on USA Network (1.16M).

The July 20 NASCAR Cup Series race from Dover (Del.) averaged a 1.1 rating and 2.01 million viewers across TNT (1.87M) and truTV (137K), down from last year’s 1.3 and 2.40 million when the race aired on FS1 in April.

The corresponding Xfinity Series race drew a 0.58 and 1.05 million on CW, the largest audience for an Xfinity Series race at the track since 2016. Both races were affected by weather, with the Cup race experiencing a one-hour delay and the Xfinity race called after 134 of 200 laps.

NASCAR Cup Series racing from Sonoma (Ca.) averaged a 1.1 rating and 2.19 million viewers across TNT (1.97M) and truTV (224K), down sharply from last year on FOX (1.6, 2.90M), but an increase over the higher-profile Chicago Street Race a week earlier (1.1, 2.06M).

Shane Van Gisbergen’s second-straight win, which peaked with 2.5 million in the 6:30 PM ET quarter-hour, drew the largest publicly reported Cup Series audience since the Coca-Cola 600. Keep in mind Prime Video used Nielsen’s “big data” metric for its five races (including the Coke 600), as opposed to the “panel only” measure being used by the linear networks.

Notably, Sunday’s viewership in adults 18-34 is said to have increased 29% over last year’s Cup Series average on cable.

Xfinity Series action the previous day drew a 0.51 rating and 972,000 on CW — the largest audience in the three years the race has been run.

Sunday’s NASCAR Chicago Street Race averaged a 1.1 rating and 2.06 million viewers across TNT (1.88M) and truTV (184K), down sharply from last year on NBC, when the race was scheduled for a later start time and ended even later than scheduled due to rain (2.1, 3.79M).

Shane Van Gisbergen’s win, which peaked with 2.8 million in the 5 PM ET quarter-hour, increased nearly 90 percent among adults 18-34 when compared to last year’s Cup Series races on cable.

Last Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Atlanta averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.61 million viewers across TNT and truTV, a figure that includes a half-hour weather-delay — down 23% and 20% respectively from last year, when the race aired on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend on USA Network (1.1, 2.02M).

Versus Nashville on same late June weekend last year, another Sunday race on USA Network, ratings fell 28% and viewership 25% from a 1.1 and 2.13 million.

In other action, last Friday’s rain-delayed Xfinity Series race from Atlanta averaged a 0.33 and 583,000 on CW, and Truck Series action from Lime Rock (Conn.) drew a 0.36 and 616,000 on FOX.