Nascar’s Kansas race gets 2.32m viewers as IndyCar slumps to 710k ahead of Indy 500

• Nascar averaging largest cable audience in past five seasons
• IndyCar suffers lowest viewership for IMS road course since its debut in 2014

The Nascar Cup Series averaged 2.32 million viewers on FS1 for Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway.

This represents a marginal one per cent increase on last year’s race, which drew 2.30 million viewers on the same channel.

After 12 regular-season races, Nascar is averaging 3.31 million viewers, the lowest figure in Cup Series history and an eight per cent decrease compared to last season.

However, the 2025 campaign has seen the highest percentage of races broadcast on cable so far, which ultimately has less reach than commercial TV. In fact, compared with the last five seasons, Nascar’s underlying viewership figures are promising.

The series averaged 4.52 million viewers for its races on the main Fox channel, which is only lower than the 2022 season (4.59 million), while it is averaging 2.52 million viewers on FS1 with one race to go, the highest figure across the same period.

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IndyCar, meanwhile, continues to have a solid, if not spectacular, start to its 2025 season.

On the surface, last weekend’s average audience of 710,000 on Fox at the road course variation of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) will be disappointing. It is a 19 per cent decrease on last year’s audience of 875,000 and the smallest viewership figure for the race since it debuted in 2014.

However, IndyCar is bouncing back from a particularly poor final season with its previous broadcaster NBC. After the first five races, IndyCar’s viewership is actually up 15 per cent on last year, with the series averaging 859,400 viewers in 2025 compared to 747,200 in 2024.

The series is also currently experiencing unprecedented domination from reigning champion Álex Palou. The Spaniard has won four of the first five races which, while historic, is not an attractive proposition for casual viewers.