- Fox handled the broadcast of the Kansas race after FS1’s Bristol race saw dip.
- Kansas saw a 26% swing in viewership compared to last year’s race.
- After Bristol, Kansas, came as a relief to NASCAR bosses.
The recent Cup Series race at Bristol on FS1 averaged 1.945 million viewers with a 1.09 rating. According to Braylon Breeze of RaceDay Report, it marked the first time a Fox Sports race has drawn fewer than two million viewers without a rain delay.
The Bristol spring race has, more often than not, aired on the main Fox channel in prior years. This time, it became the fifth race in a row to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 instead of Fox.
After the numbers took a dip, Fox changed course, with no more races slated for FS1 until May, stepping in for back-to-back weekends at Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway to close out April.
That move appears to have paid off, at least for now.
Fox’s switch from FS1 gives Kansas numbers a lift
FS1 will still close out Fox’s share of the broadcast schedule from early to mid-May with three straight races, including points races at Texas Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International, along with the exhibition All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway.
For the Kansas weekend, however, the shift back to the main FOX network moved the needle. The Cup Series race posted a rise in viewership compared to last year.
According to a report from Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal, the race at Kansas averaged 2.926 million viewers. That figure stands as a 26% increase from last year’s event, which aired on FS1 and drew 2.319 million viewers.
In fact, it is the most-watched spring race at Kansas since 2016, according to NASCAR.
The Kansas Lottery 300 drew 1.18 million viewers, marking the most-watched Kansas race in the second-tier division since the 2023 event on NBC. Last weekend’s Kansas race also stands 12% higher than the race held during the same weekend last year at Rockingham Speedway.
How have the numbers swung this season?
Year two of the 2025 media deal has turned into a barometer for fans and stakeholders, with numbers rising and falling from one week to the next.
At Bowman Gray Stadium, the Clash drew 3.077 million last year and 2.349 million this time. The Daytona 500, however, moved in the other direction. While the Duel races held steady, with 1.837 million last year and 1.835 million this year, the Daytona 500 itself climbed from 6.761 million to 7.489 million.
At Atlanta Motor Speedway, viewership slipped from 4.586 million to 4.487 million. At Circuit of the Americas, it dropped from 4.132 million to 3.933 million. Phoenix inched up from 2.820 million to 2.841 million, while Las Vegas rose from 2.771 million to 3.011 million.
The trend turned again at Darlington Raceway, where numbers fell from 2.517 million to 2.429 million, and at Martinsville Speedway, which moved from 2.422 million to 2.394 million.
At Bristol, the race settled at 1.945 million viewers with a 1.09 rating. As noted by Braylon Breeze of RaceDay Report, it marked the first time a Fox Sports race dipped below the two-million mark without a rain delay.
The rating ticked up by 3%, but total viewership fell by 5% compared to last year’s audience for the race, known as the Food City 500 for sponsorship reasons, leaving the network with numbers that tell two stories at once.
