Final NASCAR Phoenix TV Rating

Though the numbers were not bad, last week's NASCAR race from Phoenix was the lowest rated second race of the season in 14 years. Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup "The Profit on CNBC 500" from Phoenix earned a 5.3 final rating and 8.8 million viewers on FOX, down 5% in ratings and 3% in viewership from last year (5.6, 8.8M), and down 5% in both measures from 2012 (5.6, 9.2M).

The 5.3 rating is the lowest for the second NASCAR race of the season since 2000, when the Dura-Lube/Kmart 400 from Rockingham had a 3.9 U.S. rating on TNN. The 5.3 is also the lowest rating for the spring Phoenix race since it moved to the second week of the season in 2010. Sunday's race finished only slightly behind the Daytona 500, which earned a record low 5.6 and 9.3 million viewers. Of course, the Daytona 500 had an unusually poor performance due to factors beyond NASCAR's control – a lengthy rain delay and competition from the Olympics. Despite the lower numbers, NASCAR on FOX was easily the top sporting event of the weekend on any network. In a distant second was the final round of the PGA Tour Honda Classic on NBC (2.6, 3.8M).