Latest news with #non-Indy500
Indianapolis Star
22-07-2025
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
IndyCar race at Toronto continues TV ratings lull as Fox's struggles in first year continue
IndyCar's summer lull in the TV ratings game continued this weekend north of the border with a Toronto street race that captured an average audience of 734,000 viewers — the series' fifth consecutive race that failed to reach an average audience of 800,000 fans during the sport's busiest competitive stretch of the season. Sunday's noon Fox broadcast marked the first time the race had been shown to anything but a streaming-only audience since 2019, when it aired on NBC Sports Network and delivered an average audience of 504,000. Dating back to at least 2016, IndyCar's annual visit to Toronto hadn't been watched by an average audience higher than 530,000 (2016, CNBC), and Sunday's race audience was the largest since ABC's 2012 broadcast (1.129 million). The sub-750,000 average audience from Sunday's race won by Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward marks the eighth Fox network IndyCar race broadcast that has failed to reach even 800,000 this year, though the calendar has hit above 1 million four times. For comparison, NBC aired eight points-paying IndyCar race broadcasts a year ago, and only two failed to reach 800,000. Of those six that did, two (including the Indy 500) grabbed average audiences above 1 million. During NBC's tenure as IndyCar's exclusive media rights partner, the network registered 10 race broadcasts on network TV with average audiences below 800,000, not counting the pandemic-altered 2020 season. Of those 10, six of those were races up against the first couple weeks of the NFL season, meaning only four failed to eclipse 800,000 during an overlapping timeframe to IndyCar's Fox calendar. No NBC IndyCar season ever had more than one sub-800,000 average audience network race broadcast in a single season. Through 12 non-Indy 500 IndyCar network TV broadcasts on Fox in 2025, the series' new media rights partner sits at 829,833 in terms of its average viewership throughout a race broadcast. That number sits below NBC's 38 network broadcast from 2019-24 (excluding 2020 races, 500s, weather-altered races or ones that ran up against the NFL) of 998,342. When including those race broadcasts that went up against the opening weeks of NFL seasons, that figure drops to 935,408. Insider: Failure at Iowa sparks latest 2026 IndyCar schedule question: Will Penske Entertainment be able to promote? Strictly up against NBC's slate of non-500, non-NFL-conflicting network points-paying race broadcasts a year ago (of which there were 6), this year's Fox slate (minus its Indy 500 figures) trails 932,833 (2024, NBC) to 829,833 (2025, Fox), in terms of average race audiences. When including last year's season finale that ran up against Week 2 of the NFL season, that 2024 NBC figure dips to 868,571, still nearly 40,000 viewers ahead of Fox. Last weekend's IndyCar race at Toronto saw no formal in-race head-to-head competition with the NASCAR Cup series, with IndyCar's race ending just before 2:10 p.m. and NASCAR's green flag falling just after 2:15 p.m., though TNT's pre-race coverage of the Cup race began at 1:30 p.m. Sunday's head-to-head battle for IndyCar will be much more severe, with Cup's Brickyard 400 on TNT set to take the green just after 2 p.m. With IndyCar's estimated green flag time of just after 3:20 p.m., both races are slated to run head-to-head throughout the entirety of IndyCar's race broadcast.
Fox Sports
22-06-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Paddock Buzz: MSR Continues To Soar Higher with Double Top Five
INDYCAR Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian delivered its strongest all-around NTT INDYCAR SERIES performance to date outside of Helio Castroneves' iconic 2021 Indianapolis 500 win with a standout showing Sunday at the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR. Felix Rosenqvist charged from 12th to finish second in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda, tying MSR's best non-Indy 500 result. Teammate Marcus Armstrong climbed from 15th to fifth in the No. 66 Sirius/XM Root Insurance Honda, marking MSR's first-ever double top-five finish. The result reflects a dramatic step forward for the team, which has already earned 12 top-10 finishes this season, surpassing its previous best of 10 in 2022. A key catalyst? A bold offseason switch in technical alliances from Andretti Global to Chip Ganassi Racing and the addition of Armstrong to the lineup. 'I feel like we've taken it to the next step,' Rosenqvist said. 'I feel like we're unhappy now if we're not in the Fast 12 or even (Firestone) Fast Six. I think we're just expecting a higher level, and it's come down to I feel like we're pretty quick everywhere, both in qualifying and in a race, and it's just about executing strategy.' Rosenqvist has six top-10 finishes this season while Armstrong has five, four of which came in the last five races. Castroneves contributed another with a 10th-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. 'I feel like the team is really strong from an engineering core,' Armstrong said. 'I also feel like I work well with Felix (Rosenqvist). Felix is a strong driver, really good over one lap, like you can learn from him a lot. Looking at his data is great. And also just talking with him, I feel like it's an easy team environment, which is really helpful.' Dixon Nearly Pulls Off Fuelish Victory Scott Dixon and Chip Ganassi Racing master strategist Mike Hull nearly pull off another fuel-saving masterpiece in Sunday's 55-lap race. Starting 25th in the 27-car field, Dixon capitalized on a first-lap caution, diving into the pits after David Malukas went off track. Six-time series champion Dixon ran a bold, off-sequence strategy, stretching fuel masterfully while still showing strong pace. The gamble didn't quite pay off. With fumes left in the tank, Dixon was forced to pit his No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda with two laps remaining. That could have been his 21st consecutive season with at least one INDYCAR SERIES win, a record unmatched in the sport. Dixon handed the lead and win to teammate Alex Palou in his No. 10 SOLO Cup Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. 'Pretty wild strategies there just to try and make something happen,' he said. 'The unfortunate part is that the car was super fast. We were just having to save fuel every lap, so that was kind of frustrating. I think we should have been in the top three.' Dixon ultimately crossed the finish line in ninth, marking his third straight race running an alternate strategy. He finished 11th in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on June 1 and fourth in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on June 15. He found himself just a few laps short of perfection Sunday in Wisconsin. 'Just one of those years, man,' Dixon said. 'We'll keep knocking on the door. We're just going for some race wins. Pretty much out of the championship, so nothing to lose.' Siegel Scores Top 10 After Busy Week After a turbulent week off track, Nolan Siegel delivered a timely performance on it at Road America. Following a public apology, along with one from his Arrow McLaren team, for salty remarks made on the team radio about Scott McLaughlin and Team Penske during the previous week's race at World Wide Technology Raceway, the 19-year-old responded with a career-boosting drive to a season-best eighth place at Road America. 'This is a nice end to this week,' Siegel said. 'Nice to move on from everything from last week and ended on a high. This has been a much-needed weekend. Ultimately, this is something we can build off of. 'I've had a lot of bad weeks where everyone leaves upset, and it's not a good feeling. It's nice to kind of turn that around.' The results marks Siegel's third career top 10 and second on a natural road course. The other came with a ninth-place finish May 4 at Barber Motorsports Park. His career best finish remains seventh in 2023 at WWTR. With momentum finally swinging in his favor and The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the all-new 2026 Passport next on Sunday, July 6, a road-course event that teammate Pato O'Ward won last year, Siegel remains optimistic. 'I've been strong on the road courses this year,' he said. 'Barber, here, Mid-Ohio was a pretty good one for all of us last year. So, we're going to have a strong car, I know that. 'The goal is to just do better every weekend and maybe start a little further up than we did this weekend. I think there's a lot of potential there. I'm excited given how much potential this group seems to have. I think once that starts to come out, the results start to come and just kind of get the ball rolling.' INDY NXT Race Completed Without Push To Pass Caio Collet secured his first victory of the season in Sunday's INDY NXT by Firestone race at Road America. He did so without the aid of Push to Pass, the overtaking assist feature that wasn't available to any of the 19 cars in the field due to a technical problem. INDYCAR is evaluating a car-side processing issue that prevented use of Push to Pass. No competitive advantage was available to any entry as the full field was impacted. Following internal analysis, INDYCAR will work to ensure any necessary remedies are in place before the next race. Odds and Ends The eventual NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion has finished in the top four in seven of the last eight years at Road America. Josef Newgarden finished second in his 2017 championship-winning season and third in 2019. Dixon was also third in his 2018 title-winning campaign and won Race 1 in 2020. Palou won at Road America in his 2021 and 2023 championship-winning seasons and finished fourth last year. Will Power's 19th-place finish in 2022 is the lone exception. Palou, the points leader, won Sunday. Green Bay Packers Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs led the field to the green flag in the passenger seat of the Fastest Seat in Sports two-seater race car. Jacobs met and chatted before the race with Team Penske driver and avid NFL fan McLaughlin, Roger Penske and Penske Corp. executive Bud Denker. The impressive statistics keep piling up for race winner Palou. This was the 50th top-five finish from his 90 career starts, a strike rate of 56 percent. Honda begins the season 9-for-9, with six wins from Palou and three from Kyle Kirkwood's No. 27 Siemens Honda. The manufacturer's unbeaten streak is 10 straight wins, dating to Colton Herta's victory in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda in last year's season finale at Nashville Superspeedway. Kyffin Simpson earned his second top-six finish in the last three races by finishing sixth in the No. 8 Ridgeline Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. He finished fifth in Detroit. recommended
Indianapolis Star
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
IndyCar TV ratings for Sonsio Grand Prix take notable dip. What it means for Fox's tenure so far
INDIANAPOLIS — Following a marginally more closely contested IndyCar race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, but one again won by Alex Palou all the same, Fox Sports captured an average audience of just 710,000 for Saturday's Sonsio Grand Prix, the second lowest audience of the year and the lowest the race has seen since at least 2016. This year's race preceding Indianapolis 500 practice week did face stiffer NBA playoff competition than a year ago (Knicks-Celtics this year versus Thunder-Mavericks), along with a PGA Tour tournament that saw year-over-year gains in its own viewership, but it also marks Fox's second IndyCar broadcast that saw a downturn in ratings from a year ago (along with Thermal), along with another race (Barber) that was up significantly over 2024 but relatively flat against other recent broadcasts. Long Beach's audience this spring, though up on 2024 from a strict numbers standpoint (552,000 versus 307,000), marked the historic race's return to a network window after airing on cable in 2024, and this year's audience metrics out-rated only two NBC IndyCar network broadcasts from 2019-2024 — both of which faced NFL competition near the end of the season. On the backs of a mega audience for the St. Pete season opener — 1.417 million, the largest non-Indy 500 IndyCar audience in 14 years — Fox's early tenure as IndyCar's exclusive U.S. broadcast partner still has the network up 15% on last year's average through the same corresponding broadcasts (including Thermal, even though it was a non-points race). But that boost shrinks to just 1% when looking at IndyCar's first five non-Indy 500 network broadcasts in 2024 (excluding Long Beach and including Road America). Year over year, NBC's slate in 2024 is actually up on Fox's in 2025 by taking the average audience of IndyCar's first five points races (i.e. not Thermal in 2024) that aired on network TV (outside the 500), meaning St. Pete, Barber, IMS road course, Road America and Mid-Ohio, versus Fox's first five this year: 946,000 (2024) vs. 863,000 (2025). Given the notable increase in Fox's commercial promotion of the series over the offseason and into this year — including three driver-centric commercials that aired during Fox's Super Bowl coverage — when compared to NBC's approach in recent years, Penske Entertainment officials made clear coming into the 2025 campaign they expected to transition from consistent "single-digit growth" into "rapid growth" with the help of Fox Sports and its enthusiastic Hoosier CEO Eric Shanks. "There's a whole other level of trajectory for IndyCar going forward," Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles told reporters on the eve of the season opener in St. Pete. Insider: With sparse spring schedule, IndyCar wasted its Super Bowl moment. It's time for results All eyes now focus in on Fox's first Indy 500 broadcast May 25 and the audience it'll be able to capture as it prepares to launch Season 3 of "100 Days to Indy" days before the race on its streaming arm, Fox Nation, along with Fox's increased reach on practice coverage that will air on cable all month (NBC's only ran on streaming), its sizable network qualifying broadcast windows both Saturday and Sunday and its various other Indy 500-related documentary-style programming that it hopes will help create an attention-grabbing runway on the way to the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Indianapolis 500 2025: Practice, qualifying, Carb Day, Legends Day, race schedule, start time, tickets The TV audience for the Indy 500 hasn't eclipsed 6 million since 2016 (6.01 million), with the high since then coming with Helio Castroneves' historic fourth victory in 2021 (5.63 million). Only four times since the 100th running in 2016 has the race's TV-only audience even surpassed the 5 million mark, including last year's, which averaged 5.02 million, 5.31 million including streaming, an element that Fox doesn't yet have in its arsenal but will in 2026. Since three consecutive years with average TV audiences for the race above 6 million from 2014-16, the 500's TV metrics have been up and down, with a steady two-year dip in 2017 (5.46 million) and 2018 (4.91 million), before a jump back up in 2019 (5.45 million). After the lowest-rated race during the COVID-19-altered 2020 race (3.67 million), Castroneves' win added back nearly 2 million viewers, the following year lost nearly 1 million right back (4.62 million; 4.8 million with streaming in 2022). Drama-filled endings won by Josef Newgarden in the two years since (4.71 million in 2023, 4.92 million including streaming; and 5.02 million in 2024, 5.31 with streaming) gave the broadcast a notable boost.
