- Hamlin raised concerns over Bristol’s ratings after it clashed with a marquee event.
- The JGR driver suggested a night race at Bristol might have been the better call.
- NASCAR viewership is trending down, only three of eight races defying slide this year.
NASCAR has not left a single chance in its push to boost viewership and pack grandstands.
A media rights deal with Amazon Prime Video, signed in 2024, aimed to draw a younger audience, while the schedule mixes return stops at historic venues, like North Wilkesboro, with runs at new tracks such as San Diego, the Chicago Street Course, and a road course in Mexico.
The idea is to keep one set of fans held while enticing the younger or newer fans to the sport.
The numbers, though, have not been as promising as the sport and the die-hards would have expected. Apart from this year’s Daytona 500, viewership has shown signs of a slide at races at Phoenix Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And now, Denny Hamlin raised a red flag over the schedule of the Bristol race on Sunday as well.
Denny Hamlin flags clash with The Masters
Hamlin pointed to a head-to-head with The Masters as a factor that could have cut into Bristol Motor Speedway’s audience.
Last September’s Cup race at Bristol drew an average of 1.536 million viewers for a .79 rating on USA Network, down from 1.868 million and a .98 on the same weekend in 2024. In April last year, FS1 drew 2.054 million viewers at Bristol, while the 2024 broadcast on Fox reached 3.809 million.
This year’s figures are yet to land, but Hamlin suggested a night race might have moved the needle. Scorching heat played its part, he said, and the overlap with golf would have been a mistake, probably.
“The day race hotter than it’s ever been there. Sunshine should have raced at night. I think the only way we could have or should have is if we were on prime a spring Bristol night race. I was thinking about it too like man after the Masters, it just I’m sure the ratings.”
The Masters, one of golf’s four majors, is staged each year at Augusta National Golf Club and draws players and viewers from across the globe in April. Hamlin later, however, shrugged it off, saying, “You know what? Just be really, really good at your sport, and the people will come.”
There is also the question of whether timing would have changed the on-track product, given Goodyear supplied tires designed to hold up across temperature swings. Even so, Hamlin argued the race may have fared better in a slot that avoids any overlaps with the marquee events.
What do the ratings look like for this year’s races?
Year two of the 2025 media deal has become a yardstick for fans and stakeholders, as early returns show week-to-week swings.
At Bowman Gray Stadium, the Clash drew 3.077 million last year and 2.349 million this time. The Daytona 500, by contrast, showed an increase in viewership. Although the Duel races held near steady, with 1.837 million last year and 1.835 million this year, the Daytona 500 itself rose from 6.761 million to 7.489 million.
At Atlanta Motor Speedway, viewership dipped from 4.586 million to 4.487 million. At Circuit of the Americas, it fell from 4.132 million to 3.933 million. Phoenix again edged up from 2.820 million to 2.841 million, and Las Vegas climbed from 2.771 million to 3.011 million.
But the pendulum swung back at Darlington Raceway, where numbers slid from 2.517 million to 2.429 million, and at Martinsville Speedway, which went from 2.422 million to 2.394 million.
