This weekend, we will have NASCAR’s return to Iowa Speedway, which is uncharted territory for the NASCAR Cup Series. In addition, it is the biggest weekend in all of sports car racing.
Where to Watch NASCAR This Weekend
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series will make their first-ever visit to Iowa Speedway. An incredibly rare distance of 350 laps has been instituted for this race, which is a little more than 306 miles on the .875-mile D-shaped oval.
Coverage of the Iowa Corn 350 will start with Countdown to Green at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday evening on USA Network. Race coverage will start at 7 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:15 p.m. ET.
Primary support for the NASCAR Cup Series in Iowa will be the NASCAR Xfinity Series, which will race in Iowa for the first time since 2019. Coverage of the Hy-Vee Perks 250 will start with Countdown to Green at 3 p.m. ET Saturday on USA Network. Race coverage will start at 3:30 p.m. ET with the green around 3:45 p.m. ET. Finally, there will be a combination race for the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East Friday night in Iowa. Coverage of the Atlas 150 will air live on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET tonight.
Where to Watch Other Racing Series This Weekend
The biggest show in racing this weekend is the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the crown jewel of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The full race will be available on television in multiple places.
Live coverage from Le Mans is due to begin at 9 a.m. ET Saturday morning on both Motor Trend and Max’s B/R Sports Add-on. The French tricolor will drop at 10 a.m. ET to start the race. Live coverage is scheduled to go through 11 a.m. ET Sunday morning. If there’s any more post-race coverage beyond that, it will be exclusive to the B/R Sports Add-on. As of now, the B/R Sports Add-on is still free to Max subscribers, but will become paid at some point.
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams are in Knoxville this weekend for the Premier Chevy Dealers Clash. This is a rescheduled weekend after the previous attempt on the weekend of April 26-27 was washed out. Coverage both nights from Knoxville will start at 7:30 p.m. ET on DirtVision. Fans at Iowa Speedway for NASCAR this weekend could conceivably go to this since Knoxville Raceway is only 31 miles from Iowa Speedway.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series teams are at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Tennessee for the Mountain Moonshine Classic. Racing both nights will begin at 7:15 p.m. ET on FLORacing.
TV Ratings Check — Sonoma, Road America, Montreal
Last weekend was the final weekend of the season for FOX Sports’ coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series for 2024 and the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the foreseeable future. For the Cup Series, ratings were pretty flat.
The coverage of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 earned a 1.6 rating with 2.895 million viewers Sunday. The rating was down slightly from last year’s 1.65 rating, but that could only be because of the lack of detail beyond the decimal point. Viewership was down by 17,000 viewers over last year, less than 1%.
Saturday’s coverage of the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 earned a .42 rating with 768,000 viewers. That is down .04 of a point (8.5%) and 46,000 viewers from last year (5.6%).
Sunday’s coverage of the NTT IndyCar Series Xpel Grand Prix at Road America earned a .52 rating with 863,000 viewers. That is more than double the viewership and ratings as compared to last year (.23 and 385,000 viewers). However, last year’s race was on USA Network. The most recent NBC race from Road America, which was in 2022, earned a .69 rating with 1.087 million viewers.
Formula 1’s Grand Prix of Canada broadcast Sunday attracted 1.8 million viewers on ABC, the highest viewership ever for the race. Unfortunately, a full Nielsen rating is not available for the race since Nielsen groups the race together with Formula 1: Grand Prix Sunday when it is on ABC. The rating for pre-race and the race combined was a .7.
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.
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REVTV is showing the full 24 hours pf the real race in France.
Sorry! My bad! It’s Bell 1601.