NASCAR’s Televised Return<br />Draws 6 Million Viewers On May 17, NASCAR returned to<br />television after a 10-week hiatus. The Real Heroes 400 was held at Darlington<br />Raceway in South Carolina. No fans were<br />present in the racetrack’s 47,000 seats. Only essential staff, such as teams and broadcasters,<br />were permitted to attend. They reportedly numbered<br />around 900 people. Virtual viewership on the other hand<br />occurred in record-breaking numbers,<br />with a total of 6.32 million viewers. According to Fox, that makes the event<br />the most-watched non-Dayton NASCAR<br />race in more than three years. Viewership was up 38 percent from<br />NASCAR’s last race, which occurred<br />pre-shutdown, according to Austin Karp<br />of Sports Business Journal. The race also averaged an additional 40,000<br />viewers on Fox Sports’ digital platforms. In terms of viewership, it trails only behind<br />the 2020 Daytona 500 as the company’s<br />largest NASCAR streaming audience.
