The NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway ended with Denny Hamlin in Victory Lane last Sunday. Over the last few years, several drivers have lauded the track for its suitability with the Next Gen car. The speed and momentum it produces have many head over heels in love with it. However, an anomaly presents itself when looking at its viewership numbers.
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According to Sports Business Journal, Sunday’s race got only 1.77 million viewers on Amazon Prime Video. This is the lowest audience that a NASCAR Cup Series race has generated in 2025. The audience count is a 16.2% decrease from last year’s FireKeepers Casino 400. It also ought to be noted that the race was impacted by bad weather last year.
Despite the low viewership, it is the races at Michigan that fans seem to enjoy the most. Judging from the post-race poll results that veteran reporter Jeff Gluck conducts on X, Michigan appears to have found a special connection with the NASCAR fandom. Across the four races that have been held here in the Next Gen era, an average of 87.2% of voters have categorized it as a good race.
Michigan has taken over as the track with the highest average ‘Yes’ % in the Next Gen era among tracks that have run 4+ races https://t.co/eL9xe2mdrN pic.twitter.com/4RqPR1TUac
— Daniel Céspedes (@_DanielCespedes) June 10, 2025
The most recent race at the track too garnered a 92.2% positive response rate. The Charlotte Motor Speedway is the track that comes closest to receiving such feedback. 90.2% of the voters called the 2025 Coca-Cola 600 a good race. It was Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain who lifted the crown jewel win at the end of a dramatic affair.
NASCAR’s viewership numbers since Prime Video took over
NASCAR has traditionally been broadcast on cable throughout history. But it took a gamble by signing a contract with streaming services such as Prime Video last year. Three races have gone by with this new partner in the ring and the feedback from fans has been largely positive even though the viewership numbers haven’t shot up yet.
NASCAR has averaged 2.18 million viewers over these three races. The Coca-Cola 600 got 2.72 million viewers, the race at Nashville got 2.06 million viewers and now, the Michigan race got 1.77 million viewers. The promising element of this is that there has been a year-on-year gain in the 18 to 34 demographic (32% increase).
Being relieved of the terrible work that Fox Sports did early in the season alone must be reason enough to warrant this transition. Prime Video’s coverage continues to impress fans and engage them in a much better way than that of its predecessor. Hopefully, this will continue in the coming weekends.
