Daytona 500 ratings on Fox flat compared to 2016

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Fox’s broadcast of Sunday’s Daytona 500 posted that same rating as last season, although the average viewership numbers saw a modest bump.

The broadcast of Kurt Busch’s victory had a rating of 6.6. with an average viewership 11.922 million, Fox announced Monday evening. The rating was equal to last year, although the average broadcast audience in metered markets was up 5%. The race had a share of 15, meaning 15% of the televisions in use were tuned to the race.

Viewership peaked (14.031 million viewers) between 6:15-6:30 p.m. ET as Busch held on for the his first victory in 16 attempts.

The ratings remain well off their highs.

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Bolstered as the lead-in to the Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, NBC scored an 11.3 rating for the 2006 Daytona 500, and the ratings remained in double digits over the next two broadcasts of "The Great American Race."

Fox, which has broadcast the race since 2007, reported a 16% ratings gain for its pre-race show and 21% boost of the network’s post-race show over 2016.

The network said it had a record NASCAR audience on its streaming service, Fox Sports GO, with an average audience of 39,832 people per minute streaming the broadcast.

Busch took the lead on the final lap as other contenders ran out of fuel in the season-opening race of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

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