Formula One is making waves in the U.S., but when it comes to who truly runs the motorsports scene here, NASCAR isn’t ready to give up its crown.
Last weekend was a big one for racing, with both NASCAR and F1 pulling in huge TV viewership numbers. But despite F1’s record-breaking weekend, it still couldn’t top NASCAR in the battle for American audiences.
F1 Smashes Records But Still Trails NASCAR
F1 fans in the U.S. proved their dedication by tuning in to the Chinese Grand Prix at 3 a.m. ET, and the numbers were pretty wild. The race pulled in 824,000 viewers on ESPN, making it the most-watched Chinese GP ever in the U.S. That’s a 31.6% jump from the last time this race happened in 2024 and a massive 200% increase compared to the first Chinese Grand Prix in 2018—pretty impressive for a race that aired while most people were asleep.
But even with those numbers, it still wasn’t enough to top NASCAR. The Homestead-Miami NASCAR Cup Series race, where Kyle Larson took the checkered flag, averaged 2.464 million viewers on FS1—absolutely crushing F1’s numbers. It was also Homestead’s best viewership since 2021, proving once again that NASCAR still dominates motorsports in the U.S.
NASCAR’s lower-tier series also had a strong showing. The Xfinity Series race on The CW pulled in 1.16 million viewers, a 46% jump from last year’s sixth race of the season. The Craftsman Truck Series also saw growth, with 906,000 viewers on the main Fox channel, a 12% increase from 2024.
IndyCar Struggles While NASCAR and F1 Shine
While NASCAR and F1 were celebrating, IndyCar had a rough weekend. The race at The Thermal Club barely managed 704,000 viewers on Fox—far lower than anything F1 or NASCAR put up. And to make things worse, technical issues forced Fox to switch to the NASCAR Homestead race for 20 minutes, which surely didn’t help IndyCar’s already struggling numbers.
F1 has been growing fast in the U.S., thanks to Netflix’s Drive to Survive and flashy new races in Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas. The fanbase is bigger than ever, and if the trend continues, NASCAR might have a real fight on its hands.
But for now, NASCAR is still the king of American motorsports, and last weekend proved it once again.
