NASCAR on NBC & TNT averaged a 4.7 rating and 10 share for its coverage of Nextel Cup racing, its best season-to-date rating for NASCAR since beginning their partnership to broadcast the second half of the NASCAR schedule in 2001, and a 74% increase from the 2.7/8 for the 2000 season, the last season before the current network television deal. NBC & TNT’s ratings for the ten races of the “Chase for the Nextel Cup” averaged a 4.7, up 2% from the inaugural “Chase” last year (4.6).
NBC’s coverage of the NASCAR Nextel Cup championship finale, the Ford 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway, rated a 5.9/11, the second-highest rating in the history of the event, below only last year’s 6.2/13, and drew an estimated 19 million viewers. The rating peaked at a 7.2 between 7-7:30pm/et as Greg Biffle outdueled Mark Martin to take the checkered flag and Tony Stewart clinched the NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship.
The top ten rated markets for the second half of the 2005 season are: 1) Greensboro, NC: 12.4; 2) Greenville, SC: 12.0; 3) Knoxville, TN: 11.4; 4) Charlotte, NC: 11.1; 5) Indianapolis, IN: 9.4; 6) Louisville, KY: 8.4; 7) Atlanta, GA: 8.3; t8) Birmingham, AL: 8.2; t8) Jacksonville, FL: 8.2; 10) Dayton, OH: 8.0.(NBC PR)(11-23-2005)
