Food City 500 at Bristol was No. 2 sports program of the weekend, ratings up from 2023 dirt race

Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway was the second highest-viewed sports program of the weekend, Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal reported Tuesday.

The race garnered 3.809 viewers on FOX, up 10% from last year’s spring dirt race at Bristol. NASCAR played second-fiddle only to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Show on CBS but came out on top ahead of the final round of the 2024 Players Championship on NBC. The race peaked with 4.57 million viewers from 7-7:15 p.m.

It’s another ratings win for NASCAR, which has been on a roll to start the 2024 season. The prior Sunday’s race at Phoenix Raceway attracted 4.028 million viewers, up 19% from 3.389 million last year and the most-watched sports event of the weekend.

Outside of the Daytona 500, which took place on Monday due to rain on Sunday, every race this season has seen increased viewership from last year. The Food City 500 is the only race to dip below 4 million viewers. Through five races, NASCAR on FOX is averaging 4.196 million viewers, up 11% from last year.

Denny Hamlin takes checkered flag at Bristol

Sunday’s race was a spectacle in that it was a tire management race, something seldom seen in NASCAR in the modern day. With resin applied to the racetrack as opposed to PJ1 and Goodyear looking to create a tire that would wear, the combination resulted in the concrete Bristol surface eating up tires at an alarming rate. So much so, NASCAR authorized Goodyear to pass out an additional set of tires during the race to each team. In the end, it was Denny Hamlin who came out the victor, leading a race-high 163 laps.

As one of the most experienced drivers in the Cup Series, Hamlin had the upper hand on the field. Add in his prior history of running nearly identical types of races at other short tracks in the past, and it’s hardly a surprise to see Hamlin find himself in victory lane.

“That’s what I grew up here doing in the short tracks in the Mid Atlantic, South Boston, Martinsville. Once it became a tire management race, I really liked our chances. Obviously, the veteran in Martin [Truex Jr.], he knew how to do it as well. We just had a great car, great team,” Hamlin said. “The pit crew just did a phenomenal job all day. Can’t say enough about them.”