Freedom 250 delivers huge ratings bump for IndyCar on FOX

Dedicating 90 minutes of network time to the Freedom 250 Washington D.C. Grand Prix pre-race show and another three hours to the race broadcast itself was a ratings hit for FOX, which averaged 3,282,000 viewers on Sunday.

The response made the Freedom 250 IndyCar’s biggest audience to view one of its races (outside of the Indianapolis 500) since 2008.

FOX also reports that the race is up 279 percent over last year’s average viewers for non-Indy 500 Sunday races, and says the Freedom 250 peaked with 3,482,000 viewers from 2:30-2:45pm ET.

Thanks to the big boost from D.C., FOX is averaging 1,875,000 viewers per race through 15 races. That number includes the Indy 500, which drew 6,635,000.