Increases across the board for NASCAR last weekend: Cup Series — 2.581 million (+1% YoY) O’Reilly Series — 1.021 million (+4% YoY) Truck Series — 485,000 (aired on Fox last year, but +41% from 2024)

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega drew 2.581 million viewers on NBC — up 1% from last year (2.556M). It is worth noting Sunday’s race was still -17% from 2024 (3.127). It’s also the first YoY increase for Cup since Gateway (+7 YoY). Hopefully some positive momentum.

Still cannot believe this is an actual quote. I wish these CEOs would just be honest for once and admit the truth: F1 took the deal for the money and 100% knew it would cost them viewership. A very similar situation to NASCAR!

Happy Sunday! Cup Series Countdown to Green from Talladega gets underway at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Race coverage begins at 2:00 p.m. ET, with the Green Flag scheduled for 2:25 p.m. ET on NBC. Last year’s Fall Talladega viewership: 2.556 million (NBC)

Happy Saturday! O’Reilly Qualifying is underway on The CW App and ESPN Unlimited. Cup Series Qualifying gets underway at 1pET on truTV. O’Reilly Race coverage begins at 3:30pET on The CW with the Green Flag scheduled for 3:55pET. Alexander, McMurray & Kligerman with the call.

I have noted it before, but the Friday night window on network FOX has the potential to be really beneficial to the Truck Series. We saw FOX put the Truck Charlotte race on there two weeks ago and do 838K viewers. Should see some really strong figures for Trucks Daytona on FOX.

Brent Stover is okay at play-by-play. Doesn’t really move me either way. I’ve always known him more for his CBSSN work, so I was surprised when he started calling Truck races. That said, we all know Eric Brennan is good & I much prefer the rotation over Jamie Little every week.

Truck Series is about to get underway at Talladega on FS1! Green flag is scheduled for 4:23 p.m. ET. Brent Stover, Michael Waltrip and Brad Keselowski have the call. Kaitlyn Vincie and Amanda Busick reporting.

FOX released their CBB schedule, helping us fill in some early NASCAR dates: The Clash will be moving back to FS1, as CBB is all day on Sat. 2/13. Trucks Daytona on Fri. 2/19 will be on FOX. ARCA Daytona on Sat. 2/20 will be on FOX. Trucks St. Pete on Sat. 3/6 will be on FOX.

Oh look! Another league putting more games on broadcast TV and achieving record-high viewership. Shocking concept! I wonder if the MLB and the NFL can say the same (they can).

Over 700 comments when I’m resharing this. Wow. It’s nice to see all of this discussion from fans. There’s really not another fanbase that is involved/knowledgeable with TV ratings as NASCAR fans. And I think that comes from a place of us wanting this sport to do well. We care.

I still have absolutely zero idea why or how the WNBA Finals are available on Peacock, produced by USA Sports, but NASCAR Cup Series races aren’t, despite also being produced by USA Sports.

Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Series race at Phoenix averaged 745,000 viewers on The CW — down 3% from last year’s Race 30 (Las Vegas). Viewership peaked at 868K viewers from 9:45PM–10PM. Friday’s Truck race drew 380,000 viewers on FS1 — up a big 41% from Race 22 last year (ROVAL).

Here’s a look at network-by-network and season averages for 2025 vs. 2026, comparing viewership at the same point last season as we head into Talladega: Despite recent viewership drops, overall numbers remain essentially even through 34 races (including the All-Star Race).