‘Should be a crime’: TV numbers give IndyCar a rude wake-up call

Following a blockbuster weekend for motor racing fans, which included Formula 1, NASCAR, and IndyCar, the respective TV networks released audience figures.

Fox enjoyed a positive start to its tenure as the new IndyCar broadcaster at St Petersburg earlier this month, where 1.4 million viewers tuned in to the season opener.

However, the second round at The Thermal Club saw viewership drop by 50 percent to 704,000 viewers.

That represented an 11 percent year-on-year dip after last year’s non-championship event drew 788,000 viewers.

Weekend audience figures showed IndyCar was the fourth most-watched motorsport property across all US networks.

In a devastating blow, IndyCar lagged behind all three NASCAR properties.

The Cup Series at Homestead-Miami drew 2.4 million viewers on Fox, which began at the same time as the IndyCar race at 3pm ET (6am AEDT).

The Xfinity Series, which took place a day earlier, drew 1.1 million viewers on The CW while the Craftsman Truck Series drew 900,000 viewers on Fox.

Despite taking place in the early hours of Sunday morning in the US, the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix attracted 820,000 viewers on ESPN.

IndyCar’s little more than 700,000 eyeballs put it marginally ahead of the NHRA, which drew just shy of 670,000 viewers.

IndyCar and the Cup Series starting at the same time was cited as a sore spot for the open-wheel series.

“Being on at the same time as NASCAR should be a crime,” wrote former NASCAR driver turned commentator Parker Kligerman.

“I tried watching both but it’s damn hard to have two races on at once and enjoy both.

“IndyCar succeeding is better for all motorsports, but we all need to work together.”

STOP. TELEVISING. RACING. HEAD-TO-HEAD.

Eric Shanks told me in St. Pete that Fox having both NASCAR and IndyCar (and NHRA) can only “help each series rise.”

It took two races and pitting two series head-to-head to wildly disprove this theory.

— Jenna Fryer (@JennaFryer) March 25, 2025

Respected NASCAR journalist Jeff Gluck echoed that sentiment.

“Not exactly a hot take here, but IMO IndyCar is the second-favorite motorsport for a lot of NASCAR fans (or at least something they’d watch if NASCAR was not on TV at the same time),” he wrote on X.

“Putting them head-to-head continues to feel so self-defeating for IndyCar viewership.”

Adding salt to the wounds of IndyCar’s viewership slump was a mid-race blackout at The Thermal Club, reportedly due to an electrical issue as a result of the extreme heat.

IndyCar will resume its season on the streets of Long Beach on April 14. That race is scheduled to start at 4:30pm ET (6:30am AEST), an hour and a half later than the 500-lap Cup Series race at Bristol at 3pm ET (5:00am AEST).