The NASCAR schedule is underway for the 2024 season with fans tuned in closely for the Xfinity Series and Cup Series on the road to the playoffs. While NASCAR ratings aren’t the highest in pro sports, racing continues to do a solid job pulling in millions of viewers.

This includes the total viewership, the percentage being up or down compared to last year, and extra information that can range from unfortunate circumstances for television coverage to the household share. You will find all of your NASCAR ratings coverage at Sportsnaut.

Bookmark this page for NASCAR ratings as another year of racing is officially underway! Here are the latest NASCAR ratings before Sunday’s Cup Series race at Dover.

NASCAR TV ratings 2024

Here are the NASCAR ratings for the 2024 season with our focus on the Cup Series.

Also Read: WNBA TV ratings

Are NASCAR ratings up or down for NASCAR?

NASCAR TV ratings in 2024 are largely holding steady in comparison to last season. While the Daytona 500 had a 27 percent decrease in TV viewership, six Cup Series races in 2024 have higher NASCAR TV ratings in comparison to their 2023 counterparts.

Related: NASCAR standings, NASCAR playoff picture for Cup Series

The last two NASCAR races have ben impacted by delays. While the Wurth 400 on Fox Sports 1 started on time this year, it’s 2.401 million avg. viewers can’t be compared to the 2023 race because that was postponed from Sunday to Monday. The most recent Cup Series race, the Advent Health 400, was delayed by several hours to Sunday night which likely helps explain its 2 percent drop in viewership when compared to the 2023 race.

As noted in charting by Cindy Yen, NASCAR TV ratings over the last two years have largely held steady. While there are some upticks for a few races, viewership for the last two Cup Series seasons is around the same. It’s likely part of the reason why NASCAR will experiment more with streaming races on Amazon Prime Video in 2025.

Importantly for Fox (Yen), FOX’s NASCAR TV ratings increased by 0.7 percent from the 2023 season, pulling in 53.92 million viewers across 16 races this season. It’s better than the 2023 totals (53.523 million), but the viewership has dropped dramatically from 2022 (58.508 million) and 2021 (56.36 million).

Is NASCAR gaining or losing popularity?

Based on the 2023 NASCAR ratings, the sport remains relatively popular across the United States. After the early audience sizes started dipping in April, the numbers stabilized this summer. Overall, NASCAR is averages around the same viewership size as it did in 2022.

Also Read: UFL TV ratings

NASCAR TV Ratings at Daytona International

NASCAR is starting to experience a consistent dip in its TV ratings, especially in comparison to previous seasons. The final race of the regular season at Daytona International Speedway, with a single playoff spot on the line, averaged 3.268 million viewers on Saturday for NBC.

While that is an improvement over more recent TV ratings for NASCAR, it is the lowest audience size in years at Daytona for a Saturday night race. COmpared to 2021, the last Saturday night race, viewership was down nearly 17 percent.

NASCAR TV Ratings at Watkins Glen

NASCAR’s final race on Sunday for the regular season was one of the shortest in the modern era, with the race at Watkins Glen International lasting under 2 hours from start to finish. While it was one of the fastest NASCAR races ever, it didn’t perform as well as hoped on T.

According to Austin Konenski of USA Today, Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International averaged 2.310 million viewers for USA Network. That represents a 9.9 percent drop in comparison to the audience for the race at Watkins Glen in 2022 (2.563 million viewers).

NASCAR Ratings: Verizon 200 at The Brickyard

NASCAR fans in attendance for the Verizon 20 at The Brickyard enjoyed seeing Michael McDowell win on the Indianapolis road course. For those watching at home, the NASCAR TV ratings reflect the up-and-downs season racing is experiencing for viewership.

As reported by Austin Konenski of USA Today, the Brickyard 200 finished with an average of 2.838 million viewers for NBC on Sunday. For comparison, that’s a 15.9 percent drop from last season’s race in Indianapolis (3.373 million viewers).

NASCAR Xfinity Series gaining popularity

While the NASCAR Cup Series is largely maintaining its television ratings from the previous season, the NASCAR Xfinity Series is going through a popularity boom. The race last Saturday broadcasted on Peacock and NBC averaged 1.659 million viewers, making it the most-watched Xfinity Series race at Michigan in a decade. It was also the most-watched sporting event on Saturday. Furthermore, NBC Sports is experiencing its highest TV ratings for the Xfinity Series since 2017.

NASCAR ratings 2023

NASCAR ratings: Kansas sees slight increase from last season

The NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas averaged 2.352 million average viewers on FS1 last weekend. The event was up 0.01% compared to last year at 2.337 million average viewers on FS1.

This marks the fourth straight week that NASCAR has been up in viewership. The start of the season was rough but things have really started to turn around as of late. It will still take quite a recovery to be up compared to last season overall.

In fact, the last four weeks prove that it is not simply a TV problem. If people want to watch a race, they will tune in to see the action. Hopefully, this represents the start of a turnaround for the long haul.

Related: NASCAR power rankings during the 2023 season

NASCAR TV ratings 2022

The NASCAR ratings for the 2022 season are the best they have been in four years. Overall, NASCAR brought in 114.231 million average viewers throughout the entire 2022 season which marks its best since the 2018 season (120.454 million average viewers). It was a successful year as the sport averaged over three million average viewers per race.

Are NASCAR ratings on the rise or decline?

NASCAR ratings have been on the decline over the last decade as they have taken a significant drop. It has been a challenge for the sport to consistently grab the attention of its audience; however, there are reasons for optimism as the 2022 season represented a step in the right direction. NASCAR sits on an upward trajectory for the first time in a while.