After the excitement and heavy rains of Speedweeks in Daytona, the action this weekend shifts to Atlanta Motor Speedway. Here, another tripleheader awaits.
Where to Watch NASCAR This Weekend
The NASCAR Cup Series will race Sunday afternoon in the Ambetter Health 400. Coverage of the race is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon on FOX after a one-hour edition of NASCAR RaceDay.
Unlike the doubleheaders that we had in Daytona, this weekend’s doubleheader on Saturday was originally scheduled. Coverage of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fr8 208 will start at 2 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 after an edition of NASCAR RaceDay – NCTS Edition.
For the NASCAR Xfinity Series, you won’t even have to change the channel. Coverage of the Raptor King of Tough 250 will follow the Truck race at 5 p.m. ET after an edition of NASCAR RaceDay – Xfinity Edition. That pre-race show is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET, but can be cut down if the Truck race goes long.
Where to Watch Other Racing Series This Weekend
Outside of NASCAR, the High Limit Sprint Car Series continues its season with the Deuces Wild weekend at Golden Sands Speedway in Brunswick, Ga. The first night of racing was Thursday night. The remainder of the weekend will take place Saturday. Coverage from Coastal Georgia will start at 5:15 p.m. ET on FLORacing (subscription required).
In Qatar, the FIA World Endurance Championship will hold its annual Prologue this weekend in anticipation of the season opener on March 2. Teams will be on-track for four different sessions over two days. The sessions will not be televised, but there will be times available.
For a full schedule of the weekend’s action, please check out our TV Schedule page, where we will update listings for all motorsports available on television and via internet streaming. Compared to Daytona last weekend, this weekend’s schedule will be lighter.
NASCAR TV Ratings Check — Daytona
As you can imagine, the rain in Daytona wreaked havoc on TV ratings. The Daytona 500 ended up pulling a 3.3 Nielsen rating at 4 p.m. ET Monday afternoon with 5.964 million viewers. This rating is down 25% from last year, but not an all-time record low.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 300 was moved three times during the weekend. First, it was moved up a hour to 4 p.m. ET Saturday, then postponed to 11 a.m. ET due to rain. When the race didn’t clear up early enough, the race was pushed back to 9 p.m. ET. With the post-Daytona start, the race scored a 0.52 rating with 933,000 viewers. That is a 44% drop from last year.
On the bright side, Friday night’s Fresh From Florida 250 for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series averaged 1.057 million viewers, an increase of 30,000 viewers over last year. It’s likely one of the few bits of good news that came out of the race.
Friday night’s ARCA Menards Series series opener was split between two networks. There were an average of 203,000 viewers watching the whole broadcast on FOX Sports 2. The post-midnight simulcast boosted the viewership to 323,000, but that number is still down 62% from last year.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.