It was another step back for NASCAR in TV audience last weekend amid steepening sports competition from basketball and golf. The FOX live telecast of the NASCAR Cup Series race from Phoenix averaged a 2.30 Nielsen rating and 3.86 million viewers, down from 2.57/4.36m the previous week in Las Vegas and from a 2.51/4.18m for the Fontana race that ran on this weekend last year.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series was down a tick from last week, averaging a 0.68/1.19m viewers for Saturday’s Phoenix race compared to 0.72/1.28m for Vegas. However, it was up from last year’s Fontana race (0.61/993,000). All these races aired on FS1.
The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series launched for 2021 from Gainesville on FOX, averaging 0.67/1.03m viewers for Sunday’s finals which preceded NASCAR coverage on the broadcast network. That was up from the first event to air on FOX last year, which was delayed by the pandemic until Indianapolis in July (0.46/689,000)