Ratings from TNT's first NASCAR race in 11 years leaves room for improvement

EchoPark Speedway was also the first race of the season to take place on a Saturday night, so it is hard to directly compare it to the other races. FS1 was the most recent cable channel to air a Cup Series points-paying race. That race, which took place on Sunday, May 11, drew 2.319M viewers.

Prime Video drew some of the lowest viewership of the season during its coverage, but its 2.7M viewers for the Coca-Cola 600 proved that it could draw an audience on its streaming platform during its coverage that garnered a lot of positive reviews.

Saturday night may have marked TNT's first Cup Series race since 2014, but it is no stranger to NASCAR, having covered it for 32 years. It partnered with TBS to broadcast races from 1983-2000 before becoming the primary cable broadcaster from 2001-14. 

TNT Sports is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery, whose social media platforms generated 17M video views about NASCAR over the weekend, according to Stern.

The 1.608M viewers from the network's coverage certainly leaves room for improvement, but the views the streaming platforms generated should not go unnoticed. 

Georgia's own Chase Elliott made a last-lap pass around Brad Keselowski to win the race, which was one of the best races of the season. Some may even argue that it was the best race of 2025.

From the constant passing to the lead change on the final lap, it gave fans their money's worth by night's end. TNT Sports could not have asked for a better race to begin its coverage.

As the network heads into its final four races, all of which are on Sundays, it will be interesting to see if the viewership increases and resembles — or even exceeds — what FS1 was able to draw earlier this season.