The Cup Series race at the Arizona desert on Sunday left fans and drivers wanting more. NASCAR’s upgraded short-track package did not strike a strong chord with many hearts and the promotion is now back at the drawing table. On the positive side, the race created a remarkable record in TV viewership numbers despite its lows.
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Fox Sports has revealed that the latest trip to Phoenix yielded a nearly 20% increase from last year’s fixture and that the race was, once again, the most viewed sporting event of the weekend. The broadcast house reported that 4,028,000 viewers saw Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell win the race.
Hot numbers in the desert!
Sunday’s @NASCAR Cup Series race from @PhoenixRaceway delivered 4,028,000 viewers on FOX, up +19% over last year pic.twitter.com/LVr1Haybxj
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) March 12, 2024
It was just the weekend before the last that NASCAR created a viewership record in Las Vegas by posting 4.359 million viewers. As NASCAR continues this trend race-on-race, it appears to be on an upward graph to reach the numbers of the old. Notably, even excluding the Daytona 500, the races in 2024 thus far present an increase in viewership.
NASCAR has averaged 4.327 million viewers over the last three races. This is a +11% increase over last year’s number at this space of the calendar. Though many drivers weren’t content with the way their cars drove in Phoenix, there is a section of people who believe that the racing was better this time and that making passes wasn’t as difficult as in the past.
The numbers from Phoenix have now hyped up the expectations for when the Cup Series grid travels back to the venue in November, for the season finale. The next race will be on the Bristol Motor Speedway’s concrete oval. Considering that the track is being brought back into the schedule after 2020, record viewership can be expected again.
The heroes of the Phoenix Raceway whom the 4 million+ viewers enjoyed watching
The Phoenix race was the fourth event on the Cup Series schedule. With Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell firing to the victory lane in his #20 Toyota Camry XSE, three other Toyotas followed him in the top 10 marking a victorious day for the Japanese carmaker. RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher finished runner-up in the #17 Buildsubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
Bell’s teammate Denny Hamlin and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick were the day’s most dominant drivers with each leading 68 laps. However, they couldn’t maintain their positions in the top line and ended up 11th and 10th in the standings, respectively. Following William Byron, Daniel Suarez, and Kyle Larson, Bell has now fixed his position in the 2024 playoffs.
