Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Big Machine Hand Sanitizer (Brickyard) 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was won by Kevin Harvick, drew a much larger television rating and viewership total than the race did in 2019, and it is actually the highest viewed and rated Brickyard 400 since 2017.
Sunday’s race, which was on NBC, recorded a 2.7 rating and had 4.34-million viewers. The results are somewhat surprising as the race was delayed due to lightning strikes before the race.
Despite the weather delay, the race is the second-highest rated and viewed NASCAR race since the sport returned from COVID-19 back in May. The highest-rated race post-COVID was the first race back at Darlington Raceway on May 17th.
Last season’s Brickyard 400, which was run in September on NBC, scored a 1.9 rating with just under 3-million viewers. Of course, this race ran up against the NFL, but it also did not have a weather delay.
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona from last year, which was also broadcast on NBC, ran on the same weekend as this year’s Brickyard 400 and also had a weather delay. After being postponed from Saturday night to Sunday, the 2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona scored a 2.1 rating with 3.3-million viewers.
This equates to a 46-percent gain in viewership over last season’s Brickyard 400 and a 31.5-percent gain in viewership over last season’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, which was run on the same weekend.
So, either way you slice it, Sunday’s Brickyard 400 delivered a ratings increase for NASCAR.
To view past NASCAR Television Ratings, check out the TV Ratings Page, by clicking here.
