Bristol overnight TV Ratings down -19%

NASCAR on Fox posted a 3.9/9 Sunday for racing from Bristol. There are two relevant comparisons to last year. Yesterday's race was the fourth Sprint Cup points race of the season, and compared to last year's fourth race yesterday's 3.9/9 is down -19% versus a 4.8/11 for racing from Atlanta.

Yesterday's 3.9/9 is down -7% compared to last year's Bristol race. The effect of last week's early season bye week, which is always damaging, was even worse than expected this year. Sunday's 3.9/9 is -26% lower than the 5.3/11 that FOX earned for the Las Vegas race that preceded the bye.

Last year FOX came out of the bye week with a 4.2/9 for Bristol, which was just -12% lower than the 4.8/11 posted in Atlanta two weeks earlier. Competition from the NCAA Tournament does not appear to have been a major driver of the decline. Although the Tournament was generally stronger this weekend, the two windows that faced the Bristol race were up only +4% over last year (5.8/13 vs. 5.6/13). Despite this week's decline NASCAR is still pacing ahead of last year for the season-to-date. FOX has averaged a 5.7/12 for its first four races, up +10% over last season's.