NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix was most-watched sporting event of the weekend, receives massive ratings increase
NASCAR received some positive news regarding the viewership of Sunday’s race at Phoenix Raceway, which they shared with the world on Tuesday.
According to Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal, FOX revealed that last weekend’s trip to the desert yielded some awesome results for NASCAR. The viewership was up almost 20%, and the Cup Series was once again the most-watched sporting event of the weekend.
Check out Stern’s post on X below, where he relayed the information that Phoenix drew some great numbers, helped by the fact that it didn’t have to go up against a couple of major events that it saw competition from in 2023.
“@FoxTV got 4.028 million viewers for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix, up 19% from 3.389 million last year and the most-watched sports event of the weekend,” Stern posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Last year’s race went up against the @MarchMadnessMBB selection show and @THEPLAYERS championship.”
Alas, that’s a major positive for NASCAR, even though many believe the race left something to be desired. Regardless, some drivers and media members believe that the racing was better in the desert this time around, and passing wasn’t as impossible as it’s been in the past.
We’ll see if Phoenix can bring in big numbers once again when NASCAR holds their title-deciding race there in November. That’s always a huge boon for the track, so it should put up a solid number once again, even with it being an NFL weekend.
As for next Sunday, Bristol is upon us, and a return to the concrete is being welcomed by all. We’ll see what numbers the series puts up, with St. Patrick’s Day falling on Sunday, as well.
Christopher Bell wins Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway
A long afternoon in Phoenix ended with Christopher Bell in Victory Lane for the Shriners Children’s 500. Bell now has a win for the fourth NASCAR Cup Series season in a row.
Christopher Bell picked up the first Toyota win this season. He breaks up the Chevy dominance from the first three weeks. For all of the talk about not being able to pass, Bell moved up through the field multiple times to win this one.
A big Stage 2 win was wiped away with a bad pit stop. Still, Bell kept at it and runs away with the win in Phoenix late in this race. Bell was 20th on the last restart and moved to P1 by the time the checkered flag waved.
Once Christopher Bell got his car dialed in on the long run, it felt inevitable. We saw a glimpse of it in Stage 2, but in that final stage it was as impressive a run as any you will see from a driver at Phoenix.
On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.