NASCAR viewership spikes and fanbase expands in first week back

By Mary Dunleavy WRAL Sports anchor/reporter

NASCAR was one of the first sports back after the coronavirus pandemic and killed it in the ratings.

North of 6.3 million viewers tuned into the Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway Sunday afternoon. That's a 38 percent increase from NASCAR's last race in Phoenix 10 weeks ago.

"A lot of sports fans have certainly been hungry for content," said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR's VP of Racing Development. "Hungry to see sports back on television. To be one of the first sports back is a huge opportunity."

Thanks to NASCAR's virtual iRacing and engagement on social media during the pandemic, they are reaching populations they typically wouldn't touch.

"In particular, the west coast, Chicago area and elsewhere. Really neat to see that. We also saw a spike in the younger demographic," Kennedy said.

Every race moving forward will continue to have a much different look due to COVID-19. Each member of the NASCAR team answers a questionnaire and then they are screened once to see if they have any coronavirus symptoms. If a driver is showing symptoms, they will head to a second screening before entering the track.

"We're using contract tracing software as well to see who they've been in contact with," Kennedy said. "Who they've been around to make sure we can contain all of those people."

There's a certain energy missing with no fans in the stands but according to NASCAR's Matt Kenseth, once he hits 200 miles per hour, the fans don't make much of a difference.

"Certainly pre-race and post-race it felt really, really different...You didn't really notice the environment from the drivers seat being different," Kenseth said.