NASCAR TV Ratings Drop Only Slightly at Pocono

By Alex Herbst | Jun 14, 2017

Credit: Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports /

Is there some light at the end of the tunnel for NASCAR on TV? Ratings for racing at Pocono Raceway were only down slightly from the last comparable race.

Racing at Pocono Raceway can be monotonous at times, and even downright boring if the race becomes too strung out with little to no passing. Add onto that where the race is usually seen on cable only and not over-the-air networks, and TV ratings often suffer compared to the rest of the schedule. But for Sunday’s Pocono 400, ratings only slipped slightly from their previous comparable event at the tricky triangle.

The NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono on Sunday earned a 2.2 final rating and 3.56 million viewers per SportsMediaWatch, a slight drop from 2015 numbers for the spring race. The 2016 edition of the event was rained out to Monday, making it not a reasonable comparison. The 2017 race was down just 0.1 in ratings and two percent in viewers from the race two years ago, which earned a 2.3 rating and 3.61 million eyeballs.

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Despite the small drop, not everything came up rosy for NASCAR, even with a first-time winner on Sunday in Ryan Blaney. The event was the least watched since at least 2001 and the lowest rated since 2000, beating out the 2015 race for the dubious honor. It joins a list of ten other races this season to drop overall from the previous year, but among those saw the smallest change.

The drop in viewers for the spring Pocono race came despite little competition from other sports. NASCAR led into NHRA coverage on FS1 on Sunday, which saw its best audience in series history for racing from Englishtown. The only other race competing in the Sunday afternoon time slot was Formula One’s Canadian Grand Prix, which ranked below both NASCAR races at Pocono and NHRA coverage for the weekend.

Overall, NASCAR Cup Series racing from Pocono was the third highest rated sporting event for the weekend, only falling behind the Belmont Stakes and Stanley Cup Finals Game 6. It is unlikely that those numbers will be repeated this coming weekend at Michigan, however, with increased competition. Fox Sports will be jam-packed with events including the U.S. Open and FIFA Confederations Cup, leaving NASCAR racing in the dust.

Next: Motorsports TV Schedule for June 15 to 18

Be sure to tune in for the next races for NASCAR from Michigan and Gateway this weekend. Coverage begins with the ARCA Racing Series at Michigan on Friday, followed by the Xfinity Series at MIS on Saturday afternoon. Then the Truck Series hosts their Saturday night special from Gateway Motorsports Park as a standalone event. Finally, the main event rolls in on Sunday with the Cup Series at Michigan.