600 Tops Weekend Sports TV Ratings, But Indy Was Up & Charlotte Down - Busch says Indy Well Promoted

The television ratings are in for this past Memorial Day weekend's sports telecasts and the Coca Cola 600 NASCAR telecast on FOX from Charlotte topped the weekend's sports TV viewership.

HOWEVER - Ratings for the Charlotte NASCAR telecast were DOWN , while the IndyCar telecast had increased rating s from the Brickyard.

Some traditional NASCAR markets like Greenville, SC, Richmond, VA, Jacksonville, FL, Birmingham, AL, Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA saw large ratings increases for the Indianapolis 500 telecast. Was this the Kurt Busch effect or a result of the great racing at Indy or a combination?

Busch modestly declined credit for the bump in Indy ratings and praised IndyCar for its excellent promotion of this year's Indianapolis 500 on ABC.

DOVER, Del . (AP) -- Kurt Busch on Friday credited IndyCar's promotion of the Indianapolis 500 for a bump in the television ratings.

ABC's telecast on Sunday earned a 3.9 rating, averaging 6.2 million viewers. It was up from 3.7 in 2013, and up in many traditional NASCAR markets.

The ratings increase could be attributed to Busch running both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, the first Double attempt since 2004. He finished sixth in his Indy debut, but an engine failure at Charlotte Motor Speedway prevented him from completing all 1,100 miles.

"There was a lot of promotion done from everybody," Busch said at Dover International Speedway, where he returned to his full-time NASCAR job. "The IndyCar Series sends drivers all around the country to promote the race. The Coke 600 is a strong race on a Sunday night timeslot, prime-time TV. I didn't hurt the ratings, no. I only did my part to create awareness for motorsports and the military. Did I help bump the ratings? Maybe I did."

Among metered markets, Indianapolis led the ratings for the Indy 500 with a 12.9. The race is shown on tape delay in Indy. ABC noted increases in traditionally strong NASCAR TV markets, including Greenville, South Carolina, which earned a 6.2 and was up from 5.0.

Jacksonville, Florida, was up to a 5.9 from 3.6 last year, and Richmond, Virginia was at 5.6, up from 4.1. Charlotte, North Carolina did a 5.2, up from 4.2, and Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta also saw increases.

Meanwhile, the NASCAR race on Fox earned a 4.1 rating, making it the most-watched sports program of last weekend. It was down from a 4.3 in 2013.

Busch was the first driver in 10 years to attempt The Double. According to Joyce Julius & Associates, Busch received 2.5 times more mentions than Indy 500 pole sitter Ed Carpenter in the week leading up to the Indy 500 .

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

I think America has an innate fondness for the Indy 500.......it goes along with baseball, and apple pie. the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day,isAmerica. Egos and stubbornness, not withstanding, Indy-car's near-death experience, was overcome becauseof the 500. NASCAR evokes none of those fuzzy feelings anymore. It's no longer the blue-collar fan trying to help build something. No, just the coldness of constant marketing and gizmos, and promo-tricks, all designed tohookthe fan, not really to endear him.

The Indy 500 has traditions. They used to be able to stretch the celebrations over the entire month. Memorial Day, Jim Nabors singing back home again in Indiana, the pace car, the Festival Parade, Purdue Marching Band, the memorabilia show, Tom Carnegie, milk in victory circle, ABC-TV. These are known to 500 fans even if they never attend the race in person. They even stole kissing the bricks from NASCAR.As I see it, NASCAR has two traditional races, The Daytona 500 and Southern 500. Daytona isn't tied to a holiday and is overshadowed by the Super Bowl a week earlier. The all-star rules change yearly, and nobody of consequence takes that race seriously anyway. We all know how the Southern 500 was torn down.The Indy 500 sells itself as a family reunion and celebration of Midwest tradition. The Daytona 500 celebrates NASCAR. The Indy 500 has been around for twice as long, but Daytona has had ample time to build something. NASCAR needs to work harder to promote more history than a five second clip of Allison & Yarbrough fighting. They need to promote the heck out of it all month. They need to more one-time rides. They need to remind people how cold it is everywhere but Florida.