The preliminary overnight ratings for Talladega our out, and if they hold, it's potentially good news.
NBC Sports tweeted out that the overnight ratings are up 35 percent year-over-year. Good, right?
Well, maybe. This year's race was broadcast on NBC, while last year's was broadcast on the cable network NBCSN. So while the ratings are up, a more apt comparison will come later this week, when we can compare the actual numbers against the numbers the last time the race was on broadcast television.
Sunday's @NASCARonNBC Cup Series race from Talladega delivered a 2.75 overnight rating, +35% from the same race last year on NBCSN (2.04).
— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) October 16, 2017
NASCAR will take any good ratings news it can get because this season has been a disaster.
Charlotte was the lowest rated Cup Series race on broadcast television since at least 2000 and the least-watched in 15 years -- since at least 2001, according to SportsMediaWatch.
How bad was it? Ratings were down 42% and viewership down 44% when compared to the 2014 race, which also ran during the day and was broadcast on ESPN.
Compared to last year, ratings were down 14% and viewership 11%. That's significant because the race was delayed a day due to rain, and delayed races normally pull lower ratings.
This comes after the disastrous numbers ar the Apache 400 at Dover.
SportsMediaWatch reported that ratings were down 13 percent and viewership down 20 percent. The race was tied for the lowest rated NASCAR playoff race since 2004, and the second-lowest rated Cup Series race of any kind since at least 2000.
That came a week after the New Hampshire numbers were also down -- a 1.3 rating was down from last year's 1.6.
It's the continuation of bad ratings news for NASCAR. The Turtles 400, for example, earned a 1.4 rating and 2.3 million viewers, down from last year's 1.6 and 2.7, respectively.
SportsMediaWatch said that race was the "lowest rated and least-watched Cup Series race at Chicagoland (dates back to 2001) and the lowest rated and least-watched playoff race at any track (dates back to 2004)."
But that's the end of it. Ratings for Chicagoland have declined each year since 2005, and 22 of 26(!) races have posted year-over-year declines in audience and viewership, SMW noted.
It's quite possible the numbers were hurt by competition from other sports -- pro and college football, and baseball has several exciting races as it heads into the final weeks of its season. It's also possible running the races on cable is killing the sport.
But it's a continuation of bad ratings news for NASCAR.
The Southern 500 attracted 3.10 million viewers on NBCSN, and the rest of the numbers were equally as terrible. Ratings were down 36%; viwership down 33% in viewership from last year, and it was even worse from 2015 -- ratings were down 51% and viewership 48%.
Denny Hamlin's win -- which ended up being encumbered -- was the lowest-rated Darlington race since at least 1998 and the least-watched since at least 1999.