NASCAR TV Ratings for Martinsville

UPDATE The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 from Martinsville was the most-viewed sports telecast last weekend behind the men's Final Four. The race's final 4.4 rating and 7.229 million viewers are down from a 4.6 rating and 7.373 million viewers in '09. Last year's race was rained out and run on a Monday. Through six races, Fox is averaging a 5.8 rating and 10.082 million viewers. While that rating is flat compared to the comparable five races at this point last season, viewership is up 4%.

04/04/11 NASCAR on FOX posted a 3.9/9 for Sprint Cup racing from Martinsville. Last year's Martinsville race was rained out. Yesterday's 3.9/9 is down -5% compared to the 4.1/9 the Martinsville race earned two years ago. Yesterday's race averaged a 9 share most of the way, then popped to an 11 share at 5pm as it appeared that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would snap a winless streak of nearly 100 races, but Kevin Harvick passed Earnhardt in the final five laps to take the checkered flag in another of his patented hard-charging finishes. The fact that last year's race was rained out has a big impact on this year's season-to-date comparison because a mediocre Martinsville rating is now being factored into this year's average but not last year's. As a result FOX's advantage over 2010 is now just +2% on an average rating basis (5.1/11 vs. 5.0/10). A second way of measuring this season would be to look at total rating points, a metric that doesn't penalize FOX for last year's rainout. Total viewing of NASCAR is up +22% this year (30.7 gross rating points vs. 25.1 a year ago).