US viewership: Nascar averages 2.52m on FS1 in Darlington

• Nascar YTD viewership drops to 3.53m, down from 3.68m in 2024
• F1’s average audience through Australia, China and Japan is up 49.2% YoY

Nascar averaged 2.52 million viewers on FS1 at last weekend’s throwback race in Darlington.

This was up 14.9 per cent on last year’s comparable race weekend in Martinsville, which averaged an audience of 2.19 million, one of the lowest viewership figures of last season.

However, compared to last year’s race in Darlington, which took place in May, viewership is marginally down 4.3 per cent. The 2024 edition averaged 2.63 million viewers.

This is the lowest audience for Darlington’s early regular season race since it returned to the schedule in 2019.

Year to date (YTD), Nascar continues to struggle against previous seasons, dropping to 3.53 million viewers through the first nine races of the year (including the preseason Clash event).

The 2022 campaign was averaging 4.4 million viewers at the same stage of the season.

Meanwhile, Formula One averaged 534,000 viewers on ESPN for the Japanese Grand Prix, which started at 1am ET.

Compared with last season’s race, viewership is up 10.3 per cent, meaning all three Grands Prix have seen year-over-year (YoY) audience increases so far this season.

However, this is the first race to not be an event record in 2025 as the viewership does not quite match the audience of 549,000 that watched the 2022 edition of the race.

The first three races of the 2024 Formula One season averaged 860,333 viewers, which is 4.5 per cent higher than the current average of 821,333 for 2025. But this included races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia that suited American time zones.

Comparing the 2025 races to their 2024 counterparts, YTD viewership is actually up 49.2 per cent from 550,333 last year.

Related posts:

• What Nascar’s TV, sponsorship and social media data reveals about the series in 2025
• Breaking down F1’s sponsorship portfolio ahead of the 2025 season