TV Ratings: Strong showing for NASCAR's Coke Zero 400

NBC's first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series broadcast of the season, the Coke Zero 400, drew a 3.0 overnight rating and 5.4 million viewers, according to SportsBusiness Daily, down from 3.2/5.7 million in 2016. The 2015 race was delayed by three hours and drew a 2.6 overnight.

NBC says the Cup race is projected to be the most-watched sporting event of the weekend, up 13 percent from the 2016 average. In fact, Nielsen's Social Content top-10 rankings of sports events from the July 4 weekend show the Cup race (421,000 interactions across Facebook and Twitter) as second only to the Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn boxing match on ESPN (1.085 million interactions). 

The Xfinity Series race, which ran on Saturday after weather forced its postponement Friday night, drew a 0.53 rating and 829,000 viewers on CNBC.

TV ratings were delayed due to the holiday weekend.