Based on what one segment of fans has consistently said over the course of the first two weeks of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Netflix docuseries “NASCAR: Full Speed” brought them there. These new fans have been entertained by a pair of superspeedway races, including the season-opening Daytona 500 ending in a somewhat controversial finish, with William Byron narrowly edging out his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman for the Harley J. Earl trophy under caution, followed by one of the more exciting Cup races in years at Atlanta, which included a record number of passes for the lead, a record number of cars involved in incidents, the biggest crash in the 1.5-mile track’s history on Lap 2, and the third-closest finish in NASCAR history as Daniel Suarez beat Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch in a photo finish.
A hell of a start to the season and exactly what NASCAR officials wanted.
Interestingly, the television numbers for the Atlanta race were released and it shows there’s definitely momentum.
☀️Sun’s out, ratings up! Sunday’s @NASCAR Cup Series race from @ATLMotorSpdwy scored 4,464,000 viewers on FOX, up +33% over last year’s race from Atlanta and +5% over the equivalent race at Fontana📈 pic.twitter.com/rq2JhRGZKa
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) February 27, 2024
According to Fox Sports PR’s X account, the network recorded 4,546,000 viewers for the race, a 33% increase over the 2023 Atlanta race and a 5% bump over the second race last year at Fontana. It was the most-watched sports event of the weekend.
Xfinity and Truck Series Also See Viewership Increases
While the NASCAR Cup Series is the top dog and what was featured on Netflix, no one would be surprised to see the two lower-tiered Xfinity and Truck Series benefit from the new fan interest. The TV ratings seem to confirm that. The Truck-Xfinity doubleheader on FS1 saw trucks gaining 13% over last year’s Atlanta race at 914,000 viewers while the second-tier Xfinity Series experienced an impressive bump of 17%, with 1,190,000 viewers tuning in for the second Saturday race. It ranked eighth among all sports ratings for the day.
🚨@NASCAR’s Saturday doubleheader scores ratings gains on FS1!
🛻 @NASCAR_Trucks race from ATL delivered 914,000 viewers, up +13% from last year’s race (807,000 on 3/18)
🏁🏁🏁
🏎️ @NASCAR_XFINITY race scored 1,190,000 viewers, gaining +17% over last year (1,019,000 on 3/18)📈 pic.twitter.com/p51Uwr0LSS
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) February 27, 2024
This coming weekend in Las Vegas should provide an idea if there’s a genuine increased interest because it will be the first apples-to-apples comparison, with the Las Vegas races all falling on the same third weekend like they did in 2023.