re: 2026 NASCAR Season Thread

Should do a couple of winter break races to test the waters of this. They will not take away any races from the racetracks. I think they probably own most of the tracks.

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Announced overnight: Katherine Legge will attempt to do the Indy 500 and Coke 600 this year.

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The only significance is her being female. Will be first “double” to be 20 laps down in both races.

I just hope they don’t make it a big story. Nascar needs to promote its stars but instead this will be the story. And make no mistake, Nascar still drives the press. Don’t toe line and your access is yanked or it gets lost and you are late to everything.

With drivers like Larson he had a real chance to finish well at Indy and win Charlotte. That was something to follow.

I just hate Nascar pushing their narratives and DEI crap. Just like all TV promos leading to races. They show 5 drivers and always have Bubba in them. Why? Not from his accomplishments but solely based on his race.

They have failed at just covering racing and if you have a good race-able car the ratings will follow. No one follows based on DEI except one time viewers.

I have nothing against Legge, I just hate that she will be the story for both races instead of the stars and action.

Good for Legge, but one quick trip over to reddit (I know..) tells me it's going to be used as an opportunity to dunk on Larson which is shitty. What she's trying to do and what he was trying to do aren't remotely the same, nor are the stakes. But nobody is going be allowed to say that publicly. It kind of cheapens the whole thing.

I hate that they didn't get a clean shot at in 2024 when he had the car to do something. That was legit exciting.

Jayski
@jayski

The O'Reilly Auto Parts Series had 1,013,000 total viewers for Saturday's race at Watkins Glen.

The CW beat FOX’s head-to-head coverage of the Indianapolis Grand Prix by 54% in total viewers.

Anyone else happy the All star race will be the last race on FS1 (fox coverage). Then the series moves to Prime, TNT, USA, and NBC to close out the year

I don’t do Prime. So those 5 races are all Indy, NOAP and Truck for me. Will pick Cup back up on the other side of Prime

Here’s all of 2025 ratings compared to 2024::

We will directly compare each race’s viewership from 2024 to that race’s (or closest comparable race’s) 2025 viewership. Furthermore, we will keep a tally of how each race weekend fared compared to the same weekend last season.

This can be confusing, as the “2025 Season as a Whole” section compares races not directly to themselves, but to their corresponding 2024 race weekends. For example, in that section, Mexico City, as the 16th race of the year, will be compared to Sonoma, the 16th race of the 2024 season.



The 2025 Season as a Whole: Through Week 39 (2025 Phoenix & 2024 Phoenix)

All Races (39 Total in 2025): Including The Clash, Daytona Duels, and the All-Star Race

2025 Total/Average Viewership to Date:

94.815 Million/2.431 Million Per Race
2024 Total/Average Viewership to Date: 110.685 Million/2.838 Million Per Race
Total Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): -15.870 Million (-14.338%)
Average Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): -0.407 Million (-14.338%)


Points Races (36 Total in 2025)

2025 Total/Average Viewership to Date: 87.934 Million/2.443 Million Per Race
2024 Total/Average Viewership to Date: 104.961 Million/2.916 Million Per Race
Total Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): -17.027 Million (-16.222%)
Average Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): -0.473 Million (-16.222%)


Playoff Races (10 Total in 2025)

2025 Total/Average Viewership to Date: 18.662 Million/1.866 Million Per Race
2024 Total/Average Viewership to Date: 23.008 Million/2.301 Million Per Race
Total Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): -4.346 Million (-18.889%)
Average Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): -0.435 Million (-18.889%)
Network Races to Date (9 Total in 2025):


Points and Exhibition/Qualifying Races

2025 (9 Races) Total/Average Viewership to Date: 33.577 Million/3.731 Million Per Race
2024 (20 Races) Total Viewership to Date: 69.485 Million/3.474 Million Per Race
Total Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): -35.908 Million (-51.677%)
Average Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): +0.257 Million (+7.384%)
Cable Races to Date (25 Total in 2025):


Points and Exhibition/Qualifying Races

2025 (25 Races) Total/Average Viewership To Date: 50.719 Million/2.029 Million Per Race
2024 (19 Races) Total/Average Viewership To Date: 41.200 Million/2.168 Million Per Race
Total Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): 9.519 Million (+23.104%)
Average Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): -0.140 Million (-6.441%)
Exhibition/Qualifying Races (3 Total in 2025):


The Clash, Daytona Duels, and the All-Star Race

2025 Total/Average Viewership to Date: 6.881 Million/2.294 Million Per Race
2024 Total Viewership to Date: 5.724 Million/1.908 Million Per Race
Total Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): +1.157 Million (+20.213%)
Average Viewership Difference (2025 vs 2024): +0.386 Million (+20.213%)


Exclusive to Streaming Races (5 Total in 2025):

2025 Total/Average Viewership To Date: 10.372 Million/2.074 Million Per Race

Daily Downforce Site LINK

Why not? 4-5 passing zones on the track. Thats more than Sonoma and Watkins Glen.

I was surprised too. Figured they’d try Denver first.

Nah. Zilisch is the real deal. Trackhouse is either sponsored by Kubota or they’re driving them. Only places they routinely show up with pace are road courses. And that’s because SVG is one of the 5 best racers on the planet.

We clowned Suarez when he said there were issues there on his way out the door. He wasn’t wrong.

When Heim goes to 23x what will Bubba do having 2 teammates beat him weekly? Will team keep him solely for DEI as they have so far?