Chicago Street Race Ratings Skyrocket

The Chicago Street Race had some of the best TV ratings of the entire season. Adam Stern reports that the Chicago Street Race had 4.632 million viewers, which was the most-viewed race on NBC since the 2017 race at Homestead-Miami. It was also the second most viewed race of the season behind the Daytona 500.

You Need to Know:

• This race had significantly higher viewership than both Road America races the last two seasons on this same weekend. The 2021 Road America race had 3.078 million (33.5% less) viewers on the 4th of July on NBC. The 2022 Road America race had only 1.930 million (58.3% less) viewers on USA.
• This comes despite the weather delay of almost 1.5 hours before the start of the race. Weather hampered races such as Gateway this spring tend to not do as well when it comes to TV ratings.
• Fans on social media were excited to see how the TV ratings fared. Many liked that it overcame the skepticism others had regarding the race.

Around the Garage

Freddie Kraft liked what he saw.

From the Officials

Tim Clark, a NASCAR executive, adds how much NASCAR fan engagement was online because of this race.

In the Stands

The_Shadow said that an international audience may have played a role.

Justin Champagne is proud of the sport for how they did in the ratings.

EatHam was skeptical, but he liked what he saw.

Nathan Koster says that whether or not this is a success depends on how Atlanta ratings are.

Are the archives incomplete no more Patrick Lyons?

RICHARDSON SZN calls this a HOLY W

On Your Screen

Jaret believes this came down to the way NBC marketed the race.

Jett Kraus says this is a W.

NFJJ likes how the schedule works out with Atlanta coming next weekend.

From the Pressbox

NASCAR is winning according to Jamie Little.

Daniel McFadin adds some other context to what makes these ratings so spectacular.

The TV ratings were definitely something NASCAR can be proud of. Whether or not this is sustained in successive street races, or whether or not it helps increase the ratings for the rest of the season remains to be seen.