NASCAR ok with Fox moving Bristol race to FoxSports 1

Fox Sports didn't break any agreements with NASCAR in moving the rain-delayed race at Bristol to Fox Sports 1 Sunday night. Once the Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway went past 7:00pm/et, Fox had the option of moving the remainder of the event to Fox Sports 1, according to NASCAR. Fox elected to use that option instead of keeping the telecast on network television and pre-empting its Sunday night lineup.

The race started about 90 minutes late because of rain and then had a delay of 3 hours, 18 minutes because of more rain that pushed the final 376 laps to after 7:00pm. According to the SportsBusiness Journal, the last three-quarters of the Bristol race on FS1 drew a 1.8 overnight rating.

According to the website TV By The Numbers, Fox's rating for ages 18-49 were 1.1 for Bob's Burgers, 1.4 for American Dad, 1.9 for the The Simpsons, 2.3 for Family Guy, and 2.0 for Cosmos. "We would prefer to start and finish race coverage on Fox," Fox Sports spokesman Erik Arneson said in an e-mail Wednesday. "Moving an audience from one channel to another is a disruption to fans, which we take very seriously."

"It's great to have broadcast partners who have multiple options so that we have a way to service the fans," NASCAR spokesman Scott Warfield said. Sporting News