TV Ratings for Gateway Are In: Did the Red Flags Have an Effect?

What’s Happening?

Unsurprisingly, Adam Stern reported that NASCAR ratings were down last weekend at Gateway. The Cup Series race pulled in 2.160 million viewers, which is a 13.7% decrease from one year ago. It was the second straight week a NASCAR race was affected by weather, and it is the third straight week that NASCAR has had a decrease in TV viewership.

• The Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway ratings were likely highly affected by two major factors. The first being an absence of NASCAR’s most popular driver, Chase Elliott, and the second an almost two hour lightning delay on lap six.
• Despite these factors likely effecting the viewership numbers, this is the 12th race this season out of 17 events (15 points races plus the Clash and the All Star Race) that has seen a decrease in TV viewership. Overall, NASCAR’s first 15 races with FOX Sports have averaged 3.322 million viewers compared to 3.703 million viewers last year. That is a 10.3% decrease from one year ago.
• Fans on social media were not too happy with the TV ratings, but they primarily blamed outside factors such as Chase Elliott’s suspension for this ratings drop.

In the Stands

Mike views 2 million viewers on cable as a positive.

Nick says that since most races have had a viewership decrease, so he is not optimistic.

Mitcherl Breuer blames the weather for the bad ratings.

Is this sarcasm? I cannot tell.

Timothy Kern views the lack of Chase Elliott as the reason for the decrease in TV ratings.

From the Pressbox

Pete Pistone blames this on the lightning delay.

Obviously, a lot of factors went against Gateway in terms of TV ratings. However, that does not change the objective reality that it is not the only race this season to suffer in TV ratings.