Denny Hamlin celebrates NASCAR ratings increase early in season
Denny Hamlin and NASCAR as a whole are elated with the ratings the 2024 Cup Series campaign has brought in thus far.
For a myriad of reasons, the ratings have been up throughout 2024, and it’s something drivers, fans and media members alike are getting excited about. During the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin elaborated on why he’s feeling some positive momentum as the season progresses.
“Phoenix rating, 4 million viewers. Up 20% That’s really good. Good to see our ratings doing well. I think you know, this was kind of — we’re riding the wave. Obviously we had some good momentum from Daytona. Atlanta was obviously a fantastic finish. Then we get into Vegas. Thought it was a good race. We didn’t know who’s gonna win to the last lap there. Then we go to Phoenix where, you know, my opinion was, ‘What more do you want?’ I mean, no one ever pulled away with a lead, and we had great passing throughout for the lead,” Hamlin stated. “Again, from my point of view, it’s just an opinion, and there’s many other opinions about that. The Door Bumper Clear guys were like, ‘Phoenix just sucks. And the racing sucked.’ So we are all over the board, and got it covered in every way possible.
“But I think generally speaking, we’ve got some good momentum with the ratings.”
However, Hamlin isn’t perking up too much just yet. He remembered last season, when the ratings took a dive when Chase Elliott missed some action, so he believes the numbers might be skewed a bit. Regardless, the bump is still relatively sizable, but the next couple of weeks will be huge for the sport.
“Now, we are starting to get into, this is where you also have to have an asterisks, is that we’re getting into the non-Chase Elliott races from last year,” Hamlin added. “So, if you remember, the ratings declined 10% on average last year, when Chase was not in the race. So we should see a bump, regardless of that.
“But the 20%, that tells me it’s 10% better, right? Right. … That’s because the races have been compelling.”
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign has been riveting to start the season, and the ratings bump is deserved. We’ll see if it continues over the next couple of weeks, as the Cup Series travels to COTA on Sunday afternoon.