Daytona 500 TV Rating increases

NASCAR fans love their crashes and yesterday's Daytona 500 certainly delivered

Fox got off to a good start for the NASCAR season yesterday, as the net drew a 5.5 overnight rating for Denny Hamlin's win at the Daytona 500. That is up 8% from a record low 5.1 last year for Austin Dillon's win. Last year’s race had head-to-head competition with the Pyeongchang Games.

Two years ago, the race drew a 6.5 overnight for Kurt Busch’s win. Yesterday’s race, which bled into primetime thanks to two red flag stoppages in the closing laps, projects to win the weekend across broadcast television.

Greensboro led all local markets for yesterday’s race with a 15.1 overnight, followed by Greenville, S.C. (13.6), Knoxville (11.9), Charlotte (11.2) and K.C. (11.1).

K.C. was the top growth market for the race with a 54% gain over ’18, followed by Oklahoma City (+44%), S.F. (+35%), Boston (+32%) and DC (+32%). Austin Karp and Josh Carpenter/SBD