Daytona 500 Viewership Takes Another Hit as William Byron’s Controversial Win Fails to Beat the Monday Blues

Monday’s Daytona 500 was a thriller for some with a perfect 1-2 finish from the HMS duo of William Byron and Alex Bowman. But for others, it did not live up to expectations. It wasn’t the 200-lap epic speedway bonanza they thought it would be, and the TV ratings reflected that. In fact, the rain-delayed race averaged a 3.3 rating and 5.96 million viewers on FOX — topping only the 2021 edition with 2.8, 4.91M as the lowest-rated and least-watched edition of the race.

While the rain definitely had a hand in it, the latest controversy leading to Byron’s Daytona triumph only added fuel to the fire. As the ratings fell considerably, it prompted experts and analysts to question the event’s significance and the race’s ending.

Was the Daytona viewership rating justified?

After a long and dull off-season break, fans were thrilled for stock car racing’s biggest promotion – NASCAR – to pull the veils off its 2024 season. If the pre-season exhibition at LA’s Coliseum was a thriller, the speedway marathon at the 2.5-mile track at Daytona was supposed to be a trailer for the whole season. But did it serve the purpose, considering the falling ratings?

To be fair with our analogy, let us look at both sides of the coin. First and foremost, the 66th rendition of NASCAR’s biggest race was another one of those weather-affected events, following similar postponements in 2012 and 2020. However you cut it, Monday’s Daytona 500 did not make history for the sport when one looks at the numbers. Compared to the previous 500 that took place on a Monday, four years ago in 2020, the viewership fell from 7.33 million to 5.964 million.

Renowned motorsport journalist, Adam Stern brought out the states, uncovering the numbers game, and shared the statistics of the event. According to him, Fox reported 6.0 million viewers for Monday’s re-scheduled Daytona 500. He noted, “The last rain-impacted Daytona 500 in 2021 got 4.83 million viewers but that race finished Sunday night. The last time there was a Monday finish was 2020 when Trump came; that got 7.33 million viewers.” 

However, despite the inclement weather, the 2.5-mile speedway saw a massive turnaround with fans packed in the stands, as opposed to the low audience turnout during The Clash in LA, that had to be moved owing to weather conditions as well. On the other hand, another factor to consider is the TV broadcast. Coupled with the increasing price of cable services, Fox’s widely criticized unengaging broadcast style and advertisement breaks during important moments haven’t sat well with many viewers and experts.

NASCAR nation implodes as the Daytona broadcast discussion reaches new heights

Fox Sports’ inability to excite the TV audience was pretty evident. Many, including the popular DBC podcaster and NASCAR spotter, Brett Griffin opined that the race finish “sucked”. He went into detail explaining how a shoddily executed broadcast failed to give viewers proper insight into the race’s last lap.

During the discussion, he said, “I mean, it’s the Daytona 500. It’s the biggest race of the year. You’ve waited two days for it to stop raining and it just comes down to a crash, and at one point they throw the caution, and TV never really did a good job before they went off the air to come back and say, ‘This is when the caution lights come on or this is the shot where you use them to determine the Daytona 500’.” But can we correlate this to the plunge in the ratings?

Even fans agreed with the spotter, with one writing on Reddit, “I’ve stopped watching it live because of the ungodly amount of commercials,” taking a sly dig at the broadcaster without any hesitation. On the other hand, another enthusiast made a more explicit take on the matter, noting, “I never watch live, I swear every couple laps is a f**king ad break.”

However, while some of the fans were citing reasons to push the blame on the TV broadcaster, there were fans who couldn’t believe the biggest auto racing spectacle in America couldn’t pull off a new record, “Can’t believe they can’t get 10-12 million viewers for the Daytona 500.” Another ardent fan noted, “Stands were packed though. I consider that a huge win”. Another comment read, “If you think this is bad for a midday monday race your beyond saving. NASCAR is still very much alive.”

READ MORE: NASCAR Driver Uses Super Bowl Reference to Echo Fans’ Dissatisfaction Over Controversial Daytona 500 Ending

Was the viewership rating actually promising for a weekday? Let us know your thoughts!