In an interesting quirk, last week’s NASCAR race from Darlington both matched a record-low and hit a three-year high.

Last Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Southern 500 from Darlington earned a 3.6 final rating and 6.0 million viewers on FOX, down 5% in ratings and up 2% in viewership from last year (3.8, 5.9M), and down 5% and up 6%, respectively, from 2012 (3.8, 5.7M).

The 3.6 rating is the lowest for NASCAR from Darlington since 2000 (3.5) and tied as the lowest ever for a NASCAR Sprint Cup race on FOX.

Despite the 14-year low in ratings, viewership was the highest for the Darlington race since 2011 (7.0M). The 2% increase in viewership also marked NASCAR’s first increase in either ratings or viewership this season.

Of note, Saturday’s NASCAR coverage earned more viewers than the third round of The Masters on CBS earlier in the day (5.9M).

(Sat. numbers from Sports Business Daily)