Moving from night to day and earlier in the schedule paid off for Phoenix International Raceway with a 50 percent jump in TV ratings for its NASCAR Nationwide Series race. ESPN2’s live telecast of the Saturday, Feb. 26, NASCAR Nationwide Series 200-mile race from Phoenix earned a final national household coverage rating of 1.5, a 50 percent increase from the 1.0 rating the past two years when the race was run on a Friday night in late April. Saturday’s telecast averaged 2,116,672 viewers, according to the Nielsen Company. On the same weekend last year, the NASCAR Nationwide Series had a 300-mile race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. That race aired on ESPN2 and earned a 1.7 rating.(ESPN)(3-1-2011)
