All five NASCAR races this season have declined in ratings and viewership.

Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Auto Club 400 from Fontana (CA) earned a 4.4 final rating and 7.1 million viewers on FOX, down 6% in ratings and 11% in viewership from last year (4.7, 8.0M), but up 16% and 15%, respectively, from rain-affected coverage in 2012 (3.8, 6.2M).

The 4.4 rating is the second-lowest for the Sprint Cup at Fontana since 2000, ahead of only 2012.

So far this season, all five NASCAR Sprint Cup races have declined in ratings and viewership. The season has seen the lowest rated and least-viewed Daytona 500 ever, the lowest rated second race of the season since 2000 (Phoenix), the third-lowest rated Las Vegas race ever, and now the second-lowest rated Fontana race in fourteen years.

With that said, most of this year’s declines have been by less than 10%. In fact, Sunday’s 11% drop in viewership the largest of the season — in either metric — outside of Daytona.

NASCAR Ratings and Viewership Compared to Last Year



(Sun. numbers from Sports Business Daily)