Canadian GP on NBC maintains F1 ratings momentum

While still modest by NASCAR standards, Formula 1 continues to attract a steady U.S. TV audience on NBC's network family. The broadcast network telecast of last Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal earned a 1.0 overnight rating, basically equivalent to the last two years (1.1 in 2014, 0.9 in '13), according to SportsMediaWatch.

Meanwhile, IndyCar's return to NBCSN for the Firestone 600 at Texas on Saturday night scored a 0.4 overnight rating, equal to last year and the best of the four races on the network yet this season (SMW). The averaged viewership was given as 431,000 (SportsTVRatings).

Although it was a down week for NASCAR's Sprint Cup on FOX Sports 1, with its Pocono race scoring a 2.3 overnight rating (averaging 3.6 million viewers) compared with a 2.8 last year on TNT (SMW), the sport still got some good news from FOX. According to SportsVideo.org, the FOX broadcast network averaged a 4.5 rating and 7.6 million viewers for NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage this season, up 5% in ratings and 9% in viewership from 2014.

The remaining FOX races will air on FS1 before NBC's networks take over for the second half of the season, beginning at Daytona next month.

NHRA's finals from Englishtown averaged 202,000 viewers on ESPN2.