NASCAR Phoenix ratings ticked upward during a unique motorsports weekend that featured both the NASCAR Cup Series and IndyCar at Phoenix Raceway.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race drew 2.841 million viewers on FS1, edging past the 2.82 million viewers who watched the same event in the same broadcast window last season.
Viewership built steadily as the race approached its conclusion. The broadcast peaked at 3.516 million viewers during the 7:00 to 7:15 p.m. ET quarter hour, which included the final laps as Ryan Blaney held off Christopher Bell in a tense battle for the win.
The late-race showdown helped drive the broadcast’s largest audience of the day and highlighted the continued draw of dramatic finishes in the NASCAR Cup Series.
NASCAR Cup Race Builds Audience Late
The Phoenix race added another steady television performance for NASCAR early in the 2026 season.
The year began with a strong audience for the Daytona 500, which drew 7.489 million viewers on FOX, representing an increase compared with the previous year.
While weekly audiences naturally fluctuate throughout the season, the Phoenix race delivered a year-over-year increase compared with last year’s broadcast in the same window.
The race’s peak audience of more than 3.5 million viewers came during the closing laps, reinforcing how competitive finishes can drive television engagement late in a broadcast.
IndyCar Race Delivers Major Audience Jump
Saturday’s IndyCar race at Phoenix Raceway, the Good Ranchers 250, also delivered a strong television audience.
The race averaged 1.247 million viewers on FOX, representing a 77 percent increase compared with the second race of the 2025 season at The Thermal Club, which drew 704,000 viewers.
Viewership peaked at 1.468 million viewers during the final minutes of the race as Josef Newgarden moved into the lead and secured the victory.
The figure marked the strongest Saturday television audience for an IndyCar race since the 2020 event at Texas Motor Speedway, which drew approximately 1.25 million viewers on NBC.
Phoenix also marked IndyCar’s first race at the track since 2018.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Remains Consistent
Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race also produced a solid television audience.
The event averaged 1.154 million viewers on The CW, just below the 1.20 million viewers recorded for the same race last season.
Despite the small difference, the series continues to show stable overall viewership. Through the early portion of the 2026 season, the Xfinity Series is averaging 1.451 million viewers, essentially even year over year.
Phoenix Weekend Highlights Cross-Series Motorsports Interest
The Phoenix event created an unusual motorsports showcase with NASCAR and IndyCar racing at the same track across consecutive days.
The combined weekend produced strong audiences across multiple broadcasts and demonstrated the potential impact of coordinated scheduling between major racing series.
For NASCAR, the Cup Series race delivered a steady national audience highlighted by a dramatic late battle for the win. For IndyCar, the Phoenix race produced one of the series’ strongest Saturday television audiences in several years.
Together, the results suggest the Phoenix doubleheader successfully drew strong interest from fans across both racing series.
NASCAR, IndyCar Phoenix Doubleheader Delivers Ratings Boost