Ups and downs for Iowa IndyCar TV audience

The Sukup-sponsored Iowa Speedway doubleheaders added to an interesting debut season of audience output for the IndyCar Series on FOX.

Saturday’s 275-lap race won by Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, which gave Chevrolet its first IndyCar victory of the season, delivered an average of 576,000 viewers – up 696 percent over last year’s Race 1 broadcast that was moved to CNBC when NBC cut away to live coverage of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Despite the massive year-to-year improvement, the 576,000 ranks as the second smallest audience of the season. According to FOX, the day-to-evening race peaked with 906,000 viewers from 7:15-7:22pm.

Race 2, won on Sunday afternoon by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, generated an average of 719,000 viewers, down 17.1 percent from the 867,554 who tuned in for last year’s Sunday race on NBC. Race 2 reached a peak of 848,000 viewers from 3-3:14pm.

With 12 of 17 races complete, IndyCar on FOX is averaging 1,606,000 viewers, up 27 percent from 2024 where IndyCar on NBC/USA/CNBC/Peacock had an average of 1,262,000 viewers through 12 events.