UPDATE: As has become an annual issue at Daytona, this year’s race was significantly impacted by rain. The start time was moved up an hour from 2:30 to 1:30, but the start was still delayed to 2:06 PM ET. Viewership opened at 7.96 million viewers — the highest since 2022 (8.13M) — but racing was halted after just 14 minutes.
Racing resumed at 5:30, but just for 25 minutes. The bulk of the race ran from 6:15 to 9:46 PM ET, with the restart opening at 5.3 million, rising to 6.3 million at 7:30, dipping to 6.1 million when NBC’s Saturday Night Live special started, and recovering to 7.5 million for the final quarter-hour.
It is hard to know exactly where the Daytona 500 stands in the ratings given the sheer number of weather-impacted editions of late. Only twice since 2019 has the race been run as scheduled, 2022 and 2023. Not coincidentally, those are the only years since 2019 in which the race topped the eight million mark.
ORIGINAL POST: FOX had 6.761 million viewers for Sunday’s rain-delayed Daytona 500, up 13% from last year’s postponed event.
It was the most watched sports event of the weekend.
Exciting #Daytona500 outlasts rain and competition for FOX Sports weekend sports viewership victory! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/yCqpA2VWvq
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) February 19, 2025