TV Ratings: Darlington, Watkins Glen

Big, bad football is back, giving racing a significant new challenger for TV audience.

NASCAR's throwback Monster Energy Cup Series race at Darlington on NBCSN scored a 1.82 rating, averaging 3.1m viewers. That's down from a 2.81/4.6m last year, although to be fair that race aired on NBC – and this year's race ran against a pair of opening-night college football games on ABC and FOX, which scored a 2.71/4.6m and 1.86/3.2m, respectively.

The Xfinity Series race at Darlington on Saturday was also down, scoring a 0.68/1.1m on NBCSN as compared to a 0.99/1.5m in 2016. Again though, last year's race was on NBC's broadcast network.

The Verizon IndyCar Series race at Watkins Glen on NBCSN scored a 0.41 and averaged 604,000 viewers. That's up significantly from last year, which drew a 0.29/440,000 viewers on the same network. 

Lewis Hamilton's Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix win on Ferrari's home turf at Monza earned a 0.32 rating and 508,000 average viewers on NBCSN, compared to 2016's 0.30/467,000 viewers.  

Ratings for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series' Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals were up, with Sunday's afternoon and evening sessions showing a 0.25 and average of 396,000 viewers for the noon broadcast window and 0.27/446,000 for the 5 p.m. window on FS1. Last year's drew 0.24/376,000 and 0.22/338,000.