Sports Ratings Tracker

NASCAR last week resumed reporting the official Nielsen “Big Data + Panel” ratings and viewership figures for its races, a move that coincides with Nielsen having rolled out a modified version of the methodology at the end of last month. The first race following that decision, Darlington over Labor Day weekend, averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.98 million viewers on USA Network — up 6% and 5% respectively from last year (1.0, 1.9M).

For each of the preceding 14 races, NASCAR publicized its viewership using the old “panel-only” Nielsen methodology, even as “Big Data + Panel” remained the official currency. Viewership was lower under “Big Data” for each of the nine races that aired on linear television, and higher for the five races that aired on streaming service Amazon Prime Video.

NASCAR Cup Series racing from New Hampshire averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.69 million viewers on USA Network a week ago Sunday, per the Nielsen “Big Data + Panel” methodology that is the official currency, and a 1.0 and 1.79 million per the prior panel-only metric that NASCAR now reports for its races — both up from last year, when the race averaged a 0.7 and 1.29 million opposite NFL games.

Since NASCAR began publicizing panel-only viewership instead of “Big Data + Panel” in May, all eight races on linear television have averaged fewer viewers under “Big Data” than under panel-only.

By comparison, the five streaming-exclusive races on Prime Video all fared better under “Big Data” than panel-only.

Note that the official Nielsen numbers include nearly a full hour of rain delay coverage.

Last Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Richmond averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.47 million viewers on USA Network, per the Nielsen “Big Data + Panel” methodology that is the official currency, and a 0.8 and 1.52 million per the prior panel-only methodology NASCAR is reporting for its races — both up from last year’s race at the track (1.385M).

Since NASCAR began publicizing panel-only viewership instead of “Big Data + Panel” in May, all seven races on linear television have averaged fewer viewers under “Big Data” than under panel-only.

Last weekend’s Saturday night NASCAR Cup Series race from Daytona averaged a 1.8 rating and 3.30 million viewers on NBC, down 10% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (1.9, 3.5M). The race was delayed a half-hour due to a red flag, during which viewership dipped by 10 percent from the previous half-hour.

Ryan Blaney’s win, which peaked with 3.6 million viewers, was still the most-watched Cup Series race since Talladega in April. Not coincidentally, it was also the first race on broadcast television since Talladega.

The corresponding Xfinity Series race drew a 0.6 and 1.09 million on CW, up 35% and 33% respectively from last year on USA (0.46, 820K) and the largest audience for the race since 2018 on NBCSN.

The previous Saturday night at Richmond, the Cup Series drew a 0.75 and 1.4 million on USA Network — down sharply from last year, when the race was run on a Sunday night (2.22M).

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Watkins Glen averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.85 million viewers on USA Network, up slightly from last year’s race, which aired in September opposite the NFL (1.81M). Compared to Richmond on the same August weekend last year, viewership fell 17%.

Shane Van Gisbergen’s win, which peaked with 2.0 million at the conclusion, ranks as the least-watched Cup Series race since rain-drenched Saturday night event from Atlanta in June (1.61M).

The corresponding Xfinity Series race averaged a 0.6 and 1.1 million on CW Saturday afternoon, up 40% from last year’s September edition on USA (778K) and the most-watched Xfinity race at the track since 2018. Connor Zilisch’s win, which was marred by his postrace fall in victory lane, peaked with 1.47 million in the 6:30 PM ET quarter-hour.