Fox averaged 8.87 million viewers for the Daytona 500 on Sunday, bouncing back from record-low figures the past two years when the race was impacted by weather. The race is up 84% from last year’s 4.8 million, which saw a six-hour rain delay, and up 26% from ’20, when the race was rained out on Sunday and run on a Monday (a circumstance that all but killed a bump from having President Trump at the race). Compared to ’19, which was the last Daytona 500 that wasn’t impacted by weather, Fox is down 3% from 9.2 million viewers (slightly different end times). This year’s race also is down from 9.3 million viewers in ’18, which -- similar to this year -- had competition from the Winter Olympics. This year's race will likely be the most-watched sports telecast on a crowded weekend that included the NBA All-Star Game and the Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremony.
| Daytona 500 audience trend on Fox | ||
| YEAR | VIEWERS (000) | WINNER |
| 2022 | 8,868 | Austin Cindric |
| 2021* | 4,830 | Michael McDowell |
| 2020^ | 7,026 | Denny Hamlin |
| 2019 | 9,169 | Denny Hamlin |
| 2018** | 9,301 | Austin Dillon |
NOTES: * = Had a six-hour rain delay. ^ = Rained out Sunday; run on Monday. ** = Up against PyeongChang Olympics.
BEST OF THE REST: FS1 averaged 1.48 million viewers for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race from Daytona on Saturday at 5:00pm ET, down 8% from 1.61 million last year. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on FS1 on Friday night averaged 1.02 million viewers, down 6% from 1.08 million last year.
NASCAR President Steve Phelps joined The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast this week to talk about the sport's media future.
