IndyCar TV Ratings at Barber Benefit from NASCAR Rainout

IndyCar reaped the benefits from NASCAR’s rainout on Sunday, seeing their biggest audience for racing at Barber Motorsports Park ever.

Some may argue that the Verizon IndyCar Series is off to their best start in many years. Competitive races, surprising winners, and compelling storylines have the top open-wheel racing series in America abuzz with excitement. The television numbers should excite series brass as well.

The numbers coming out of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, won by Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, are some of the best ever for the race. Thanks to a NASCAR rainout at Bristol, close to 470,000 viewers tuned into Sunday’s IndyCar Series race on NBCSN, the most for a race at Barber Motorsports Park. The race began back in 2010. This represents a 68 percent jump from 2016 and a 57 percent rise from two years ago.

Would IndyCar have scored such a high number of viewers had the Food City 500 at Bristol for NASCAR gone off without a hitch? Unlikely, as without stock car racing, there was no other racing on television until Sunday evening’s delayed NHRA coverage. Speaking to this issue, delayed NHRA racing from Houston still beat IndyCar racing by close to 20,000 viewers, despite being down from previous years.

Perhaps IndyCar can continue to build momentum and ratings by racing in windows with less to no competition from stock car racing. The NHRA moved to try to use these windows when they shifted to Fox Sports, to much success in the last year. IndyCar will have another opportunity for that racing on Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway. NASCAR will race during the day on Saturday with the Xfinity Series, providing somewhat of an early “lead-in”.

The unknown quantity in these numbers is what is becoming the “Fernando Alonso effect” on IndyCar racing. The Formula One veteran announced he will race in the 101st Indianapolis 500, and appeared in the booth during the NBCSN broadcast. While excitement has definitely built overseas to see the F1 star in IndyCar, the domestic support is somewhat unknown at this point.

Also equally undetermined is the impact of these rising viewer numbers will have on negotiations for the next TV contract. It is well-known that both NBC Sports and ESPN/ABC are at the table, in addition to potential talks with online groups. But with recent broad cuts at ESPN of staff, including veteran motorsports reporter Dr. Jerry Punch, will the Disney-owned network stay in the running? Could IndyCar actually go all-in with NBC Sports? Only time will tell.

Be sure to tune in on Saturday night at 9:00 PM ET for IndyCar’s Phoenix Grand Prix, live from the Phoenix International Raceway. Rick Allen, Paul Tracy, and Townsend Bell will call the event, with Marty Snider, Kevin Lee, Robin Miller, and Katie Hargitt on pit road.