In the dog days of summer, NASCAR got burned in the TV ratings department. The numbers were good out of Indy, but they took a tumble after Pocono.
The NASCAR brass was riding high after Indianapolis, where TV ratings and viewership soared for the Brickyard 400’s move back to broadcast television. But unfortunately, what goes up must come down, and those numbers came down hard at Pocono on Sunday. Ratings and viewership were some of the lowest for the summer Pocono race in recent memory.
The final numbers for the Overton’s 400 at the tricky triangle saw 3.7 million viewers tune in for the race won by Kyle Busch. That translated into a 2.2 final rating, down 15 percent from the 2015 race. The 2016 race was not available for comparison due to a lengthy rain delay to Monday. Viewership also fell by 14 percent.
According to reports, Sunday’s Cup race was the least watched at the track since at least 2000. It was also the lowest rated at Pocono since at least 1998. Both of these surpassed the low marks of the race two years ago. However, it was still the highest rated cable race for the Monster Energy Cup Series since Martinsville earlier this year on FS1.
The Dale Earnhardt Jr. effect that many expected to carry into the second half of the NASCAR year has not panned out thus far. Despite being the last time that he is seeing many of these tracks, NASCAR’s most popular driver is not driving in the viewers. Perhaps the only chances for the series to take advantage of their biggest star will be at Talladega in the playoffs and at the Homestead-Miami finale.
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Despite the continued drops, it appears NBC Sports is taking the issue in stride. The NASCAR on NBC team has been experimenting with new perspectives and angles to cover a race, using an “expert booth” on Sunday in Pocono. While Rick Allen and Dale Jarrett called the race primarily, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte provided more in-depth analysis from an adjacent booth. However, one must wonder how many fans even noticed the change.
Shifts in the lineup on NBCSN will be more evident in this weekend’s NASCAR coverage. Rick Allen will be away covering track and field, turning over play-by-play duties to open-wheel announcer Leigh Diffey. To his credit, Diffey has called a handful of races for NASCAR on NBC over the past few seasons. He will be joined by the normal crew for both the Xfinity and Cup Series races, plus the addition of MRN’s Mike Bagley for the Saturday event.
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Be sure to tune in for this weekend’s coverage of the final road course of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season on NBCSN. Racing kicks off with the Xfinity Series on Saturday afternoon in the Zippo 200, followed by the I Love NY 355 for the Cup Series on Sunday.