NASCAR Richmond TV rating

ABC’s live telecast of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night, Sept. 7, saw an increase in viewership from last year’s race.

The telecast was viewed by an average of 5,153,453 people with a U.S. household rating of 3.3, according to the Nielsen Company. Last year’s race, which also earned a 3.3 rating, had an average viewership of 5,078,987 (contrast and compare that to the 380K viewers IndyCar gets on NBC Sports Network and you begin to understand why the teams have to rely on ride buyers.)

Richmond led all metered markets across the nation with a 9.8 rating, with Greenville, S.C., second at 8.4 and Norfolk, Va., third at 7.8. Knoxville, Tenn., (7.1) and Greensboro, N.C., (6.9) completed the top five.

The rest of the top 10 markets were Charlotte, N.C., (6.7), Indianapolis (6.5), Dayton, Ohio (6.1), Nashville, Tenn., (5.5) and Columbus, Ohio (5.3).

ESPN’s live telecast of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond on Friday night, Sept. 6, earned a 1.1 U.S. household rating, averaging 1,833,813 viewers. Last year’s race earned a 1.2 rating with 1,857,065 viewers.