IndyCar viewership up 44% YoY through first five racesNascar records most-watched regular season Kansas race since 2016
IndyCar enjoyed its largest audience for a race at Long Beach since the merger with Champ Car in 2008 thanks to a lead-in from Nascar.
Last weekend, 1.27 million viewers watched Álex Palou take victory at the California street circuit on Fox, a leap of 130 per cent compared to last year’s viewership of 552,000, also on Fox.
Last year’s race took place earlier in the season and the audience was severely impacted by the conclusion of the Masters, one of golf’s four major championships.
Compared to the fifth race of 2025, which was held at the Indianapolis Road Couse, this year’s race represented a 79 per cent jump in viewership.
This continues IndyCar’s impressive start to the 2026 season where it is averaging 1.23 million viewers through the first five races, up from 859,400 viewers this time last year. This is the best start to an IndyCar season since 2014.
Meanwhile, Nascar bounced back from some disappointing TV audiences recently with encouraging viewership results at Kansas Speedway.
2.93 million viewers watched Tyler Reddick take his fifth win of the season, up 26 per cent compared to last year’s race which aired on FS1.
This is the most-watched regular season visit to Kansas since 2016, which averaged 3.14 million viewers on FS1, underlining the impressive audience results.
Nascar is now averaging 3.47 million viewers through nine races, an increase on the 3.42 million viewers at the same point last season.
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