The first NASCAR Chicago Street Race delivered drama on the track and viewers from their homes — or wherever else they were watching.
Race coverage on NBC and streaming service Peacock averaged 4.795 million viewers, according to Fast National data provided by Nielsen and released by NBC Sports. It was the network’s most-watched NASCAR Cup Series race in six years, since Indianapolis in 2017, which drew 5.647 million viewers.
Viewership peaked at 5.383 million TV-only viewers from 8:15-8:30 pm Central, when Shane van Gisbergen won. Chicago posted a 9.29 rating and is expected to lead all markets once data is finalized. That’s more than three times what the market delivered for the Daytona 500 in February (2.99 on FOX).
The race was the most-streamed NASCAR Cup Series race in NBC Sports history, with 163,500 viewers across Peacock and NBC Sports digital platforms.
The Cup race last week in Nashville — the first on NBC’s schedule, which covers the second half of NASCAR’s season — drew a total audience of 3.230 million.
The total viewership was up 144% from NBC’s second Cup Series race in 2022 (1.962 million on USA for Road America) and 72% from its 2022 Cup Series average (2.784 million).
