NASCAR‘s trip to Pocono Raceway proved to be a success in terms of ratings. Viewership for the HighPoint.com 400 surpassed last year’s marks from the same event.
Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal reported that NASCAR received a 1.58 rating for Sunday’s Cup Series race at Pocono. There were 2.808 million viewers who tuned in for the event.
Those numbers are both a jump up from the 2022 race. Last year, coverage of the event scored a 1.56 rating with 2.590 million viewers. The HighPoint.com 400 aired on USA Network.
Pocono Raceway was sold out for this year’s event, but the HighPoint.com 400 ended in disappointing fashion. Although it was an exciting race, it ended under a caution flag.
Contact between Corey LaJoie and Ryan Preece forced Preece’s car to stall on the track, forcing NASCAR to break out the yellow flag. That helped Denny Hamlin secure his 50th career victory.
A yellow-flag finish isn’t exactly how NASCAR wants to end races, especially with a sold-out crowd and great viewership ratings. Senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer explained why the call was made Sunday.
“We’re trying to do everything we can, A) to be safe and not run our drivers through a debris field. And, to give our fans every opportunity — and the competitors — to race to the end of the event,” Sawyer told SiriusXM Radio.
“Once we got to the point where it looked like the 41 had stalled, then he got rolling. OK, now he’s stalled again, then he starts rolling. It finally got to the point where, they’re coming off Turn 1 and we’ve gotta throw it. We used up every bit of the runway on this one. We had to throw it and end under caution.”
NASCAR also threw out the caution flag because of debris to conclude the Xfinity Series race. So, it was a bit of a disappointing weekend at Pocono Raceway.
After Pocono, just five races remain on NASCAR’s regular season schedule. Those events include:
- Cook Out 400 — July 30, Richmond Raceway
- FireKeepers Casino 400 — Aug. 6, Michigan International Speedway
- Verizon 200 — Aug. 13, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Go Bowling at the Glen — Aug. 20, Watkins Glen International
- Coke Zero Sugar 400 — Aug. 26, Daytona International Speedway
Following those five races, the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs get underway. It should make for an entertaining and exciting final month of the regular season.
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