TV Ratings: USGP vs Talladega

It was a clash of big events for racing TV last weekend on a slightly uneven playing field, as Formula 1's United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas went head to head on Sunday afternoon with NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup elimination race at Talladega Superspeedway. Despite F1 being on NBC's broadcast network and NASCAR on NBCSN, the stock car series took a decisive victory – although both were down on last year's numbers.

Talladega's Sprint Cup telecast scored a 2.2 overnight rating, averaging 3.6 million viewers. That was down from a 2.6/4.2m figure from last year, when the race also aired on NBCSN.

F1's USGP on NBC scored a 0.5 rating, averaging 727,000 viewers. That was down from a 0.6/889,000 in 2015.

NASCAR's second-tier Camping World Truck Series also outperformed F1 on the tube, taking advantage of a rare appearance on a broadcast network. Saturday's Talladega Truck race scored a 0.8 overnight on FOX, for an estimated average of 1.3m viewers.