NASCAR’s new era is off to a great start.
Fox Sports reports that an average of 7,489,000 viewers were tuned in for the season-opening Daytona 500, which hit peak of 9,154,000 viewers near the end of the race.
The overall figure was up 11% from last year despite being up against Winter Olympics programming and having its start time moved an hour earlier than originally scheduled due to weather. It did come up short of the recent high water mark of 8,173,000 viewers in 2023, however.
Friday night’s Truck Series race saw an even bigger boost, increasing 37% to 1,387,000, thanks in part to the buzz created by Ram’s return to the series along with stars Tony Stewart, Travis Pastrana and Cleetus McFarland entering the race. Meanwhile at The CW, the Saturday O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race drew 1,387,000, which was essentially flat from 2025.
See It: KYLE BUSCH PREDICTED THE FUTURE DURING THE DAYTONA 500
NASCAR is entering 2026 with tons of optimism thanks to the return of the fan-favorite Chase championship format, increased power for the Cup Series cars at many tracks and the new charter agreement with its teams that came out of last year’s court battle between NASCAR and the pairing of 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
Next up is the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) on Sunday, February 22 at 3:00 p.m. ET.
