Daytona 500 draws highest viewership since 2023
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Fox drew around 7.5 million viewers for Sunday’s Daytona 500, up 11% from 2025 and the biggest audience since 2023.
The 2026 Daytona 500 drew an average of 7,489,000 viewers – up from 6,761,000 in 2025. The race put Fox ahead of all other networks in viewership during its runtime – from 2:15-5:45 p.m. ET – with a peak audience of 9.154 million viewers as Tyler Reddick claimed the checkered flag for 23XI Racing.
While ratings for the 2026 Daytona 500 carried some positives for Fox and NASCAR, viewership was down from 2023 (8,173,000 viewers). While both races ran to the end without delay, the 2026 race started an hour earlier than scheduled, which likely led to the 8% decline.
The Daytona 500 broadcast on Fox also outscored every non-primetime Winter Olympics telecast on broadcast and cable.
Overall, NASCAR had success of varying degrees with its three official races at Daytona.
Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race saw a 37% increase in average viewership, with an average of 1.387 million viewers in 2026 vs. 1.014 million in 2025. Fox described it as the most-watch Truck race since 2016, with a peak viewership of 1.604 million viewers as Chandler Smith took the checkered flag.
Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race drew 1.81 million viewers, up slightly from last year – which had the largest viewership for a NOAPS season opener since 2020. The broadcast also drew 340,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic – the largest for NOAPS since August 2018 at Watkins Glen.
The Duels also drew consistent ratings year-over-year with an average viewership of 1.865 million people, essentially flat from 1.867M in 2025. The Clash drew an average of 2.3 million viewers on Fox and drew more people on Fox than the program that pushed them to Fox Sports 2 for the finish.
The Clash took place Wednesday, Feb. 4, at Bowman Gray Stadium. NASCAR scheduled the race for Feb. 1 but snow pushed it back to a midweek race. Ryan Preece ultimately led 46 of 200 laps in the main event and took home his first unofficial win in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com