Outstanding Indianapolis 500 rating proves IndyCar made the right choice moving to Fox

Surprisingly, IndyCar's biggest race scored a better rating than NASCAR's rain-delayed 2025 Daytona 500, which averaged 6.761M viewers, per Sportico's Jason Clinkscales.    

Viewership for the 2025 Indy 500 was up 40% from last year's race on NBC, which averaged 5.024M viewers. However, 2024's race may have been slightly more exciting. 

In 2024, Penske driver Josef Newgarden passed McLaren's Pato O'Ward on the last lap of the 200-lap race to win it for the second time. This season, Chip Ganassi driver Alex Palou passed Andretti Global's Marcus Ericsson with 14 laps to go to win the race for the first time.

Perhaps the increased viewership ties to Fox's clever marketing. After outbidding NBC for IndyCar rights in 2024, it rolled out three commercials featuring Newgarden, Palou and O'Ward. Newgarden's spot aired first on Jan. 13.

"The Josef Newgarden ad started the cadence, making sure everyone knows he's won it twice in a row," Fox producer Pam Miller told Road & Track's Fred Smith in a story published March 22. "Educating the fans each week in all our different shows, leading up to Indy. That's our goal: By the time we get to the month of May, the fans are with us. ... It's the biggest sporting event in the world, and we want people to understand that and be excited for it. That's going to be the cadence and our goal each week as we move towards May." 

Along with educating fans, Fox made sure to get its stars involved. Its coverage included NFL analysts Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Michael Strahan.

Fox understands how to sell "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing," which is one key reason its marriage with IndyCar may continue to flourish.