With 370,000 Strong Jump, Has the ‘Kyle Larson Effect’ Eclipsed Denny Hamlin’s Efforts Under Netflix’s Spotlight?

American motorsports are reaching record numbers this week, following a recent trend in increased viewership numbers for both NASCAR & the IndyCar Series. Part of the excitement is because a certain Hendrick driver is gearing up for a daring feat in a few days. Competing in the Indy 500 & the Coca-Cola 600 on the very same day – Kyle Miyata Larson.

But a lot of the recent hype surrounding these two different disciplines of auto racing, gracing TV sets has a surprising streaming platform to credit for its upturn in viewership – Netflix. Be it ‘Drive to Survive’ or ‘Full Speed,’ the OTT platform has arguably played its due part in helping bring newer crowds to the collective grandstands of general motorsports.

However, Kyle Larson’s own open-wheel ventures seem to be doing exactly that & much more trumping his fellow rivals, especially Denny Hamlin, driving eyes steadily on the excitement produced by the world’s premier stock car racing experience.

Kyle Larson’s Indy 500 qualifying ignites a racing frenzy in America

From F1’s Miami GP topping its viewership numbers in the United States last month to Denny Hamlin & Co.’s playoff efforts on ‘Full Speed’ enriching the social profiles of NASCAR in its premiere week, these recent string of dedicated’sports documentaries’ by Netflix have consequently helped racing in America. Following Drive to Survive’s raging popularity post-release in 2019, F1 brought the excitement of the US Grand Prix for a second date on its calendar across the pond in 2021.

Similarly, SBJ’s Adam Stern’s reports of the estimated audiences following NASCAR races in 2024 have more often than not projected positive trends compared to previous years in the events following ‘Full Speed’s’ release, weeks before the Daytona 500.

But with a million-dollar All-Star exhibition in most of our rearviews heading into the Coca-Cola 600 weekend, Stern’s post-race statement, yet again, read, “@FS1 got 2.573 million viewers for Sunday’s @NASCAR All-Star Race at Wilkesboro, up 17% from 2.203 million last year and up from 2.481 million the prior year at Texas.” Mathematically, that is an increase of approximately 370,000 viewers from the broadcast North Wilkesboro’s ‘non-points’ return to the Cup Series schedule, two years short of four decades.

Likewise, Stern posted another update for the Indy 500 only minutes later, stating, ”@NBC got 1.145 million viewers for Sunday’s #Indy500 quali session (TV only), up 35% from 842,000 last year.” One must remember the common factor between these highly-anticipated 2024 showcases, Kyle Larson, who qualified 5th as a first-timer in the flagship event of America’s premier open-wheel series. After claiming a sensational starting spot, for an Indy debutant, averaging over 220 miles per hour, the defending All-Star champ was welcomed back in North Wilkesboro with cheers & applause.

Without any prior preparation, Larson and the #5 Chevy registered a cool P4 finish in this mid-season exhibition race. Nevertheless, finishing two spots above him, Denny Hamlin may have missed the million-dollar prize. but his post-race release of Actions Detrimental benefitted another time, owing to the collective hype built through the efforts of all storymakers on Sunday. Interestingly, Hamlin’s latest episode received a staggering 54k views on YouTube on just the first day of its release. That is ten thousand more eyes than he received in his last video, right after Darlington.

From the outside looking in, Larson’s Double Duty demands, alongside the now-infamous Kyle Busch vs. Ricky Stenhouse Jr throwdown, and Joey Logano’s million-dollar race win appear to have benefited everyone involved in helping create the all-important social activity’ of the moment. But more importantly, Denny’s tireless efforts, championing the sport we all love while playing the main ‘antagonist’ role portrayed perfectly on NASCAR: Full Speed, warrant their own well-deserved shoutout.

Will a second season of “Full Speed” keep fans in the stands?

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Between the five episodes of NASCAR’s dedicated docuseries debut, Denny Hamlin retained an integral role in all the other developments, alongside fellow playoff-contesting drivers such as Kyle Larson and the eventual winner of the 2023 season, Ryan Blaney. With some much-deserved screentime, the #11 driver has since become one of the loudest voices bridging fans to the sanctioning body and fans due to his controversial and informative takes on Actions Detrimental.

Based on pure rumors of a second season coming soon, and Denny’s certified playoff berth, his voice will surely be amplified amidst the positive reception of the narratives from Full Speed’s first installment. As Dale Jr put it earlier in Autoweek, “If we can lock in and get several seasons on Netflix, we have that potential to grow our audience (in person as well as on TV) … improve our position in society and improve people’s opinion of our sport.”

Considering more such documentaries are already in the works with the season’s upcoming broadcast partner for 2025, streaming giant Amazon Prime, NASCAR has duly recognized the potential to rake in younger fans via the more popular video-on-demand (VOD) channels. In light of a widely assumed ‘declining’ racing product, this may be a measure that serves the sanctioning body well theoretically. But wider concerns sadly surround the alleged ‘inefficiency’ of the NextGen cars, potentially rendering drivers unable to ‘fix’ a below-average viewership experience, especially on short tracks.

Even North Wilkesboro’s most recent 0.625-mile encounter only garnered a meager 36.9% of positive votes on Jeff Gluck’s mandatory poll assessing the quality of each week’s race. Most of the backlash stems from Joey Logano’s total dominance from the first laps, a sight similar to many race wins in recent times on a short track. Some blame the NextGen car for consistently deteriorating the product with each passing year since its inception.

Whatever the case, seemingly every race week, newer fans add to the global community by voicing their frustrations and blessings at the world’s premier stock car racing viewership experience. Provided with stars to enthrall like Kyle Larson & Denny Hamlin, the NASCAR nation seems to be only growing bigger in anticipation of a second season for NASCAR: Full Speed.