USA ratings revealed for 2025 NASCAR Cup Series race at Gateway

The NASCAR Cup Series race at Gateway took place this past Sunday, and the ratings have been revealed. Per Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal, the USA Network got a 0.82 rating and 1.525 million viewers for the second playoff race of the season. The viewership is down from 1.8 million for last year’s second playoff race (at Watkins Glen), and from 2.5 million for the 2024 event at the same venue on FS1, which was held in June.

A big reason for the lower viewership could be that it was the first Sunday for a full slate of NFL games. The race began during the 1 p.m. ET NFL games and ended as the 4 p.m. games were in action. It will be interesting to see the ratings for the next Cup Series race, as it takes place this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Those who watched the Gateway race saw Denny Hamlin take the checkered flag and clinch a spot in the second round of the playoffs. He has now won five races this year and 59 Cup Series race victories in his career.

Denny Hamlin talks about winning the NASCAR race at Gateway

During Hamlin’s post-race press conference, he talked about how the win at Gateway was historic since it was the 200th victory for Toyota. “It’s super special because they’ve been such a big partner of Joe Gibbs Racing for such a long time,” Denny Hamlin said. “Certainly, I was worried when we switched over, gosh, felt like about 16, 17 years ago, somewhere in that range, from Chevy to Toyota.

“Obviously, it was a big leap of faith by everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing. The drivers were kind of like an innocent bystander in it, right? We were going to live and die by those situations that JGR made on that day. It turned out to be the best partnership that they could imagine, being the top team.”

The next Cup Series race will be the third playoff race and the final for the Round of 16. It will take place at Bristol Motor Speedway and start on Saturday, Sept. 13, on the USA Network.