NASCAR Cup at Chicago Dominates July 1-2 Weekend TV Showdown with F1, IndyCar

Not even a little rain delay could keep the TV audiences away, as early returns reveal that the NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 220 on July 2 was a ratings winner for NBC.

And despite a strong Formula 1 TV number posted over at ESPN on the same day, it's clear that American motorsports fans still love their NASCAR.

Sunday's rain-delayed NASCAR race averaged 4.795 million viewers and was the most-watched NASCAR Cup Series race on NBC in six years, dating back to the race at Indianapolis in 2017 (5.647 million viewers).

The Chicago race was the second most-watch NASCAR race this season, behind only the Daytona 500 on FOX that drew 8.173 million. According to NBC, the Grant Park 220 Chicago race was also the most-streamed race on the network's Peacock streaming service (163,500). The viewership numbers peaked at 5.383 million during the final 15 minutes of the Cup Series race (9:15-9:30 p.m ET) won by Shane van Gisbergen.

As for Formula 1 on ESPN, the live Sunday broadcast attracted an average of 1.09 million viewers—the largest U.S. television audience ever for that particular race. The viewership numbers were down from the season average, as races broadcast in the U.S. across ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC are averaging 1.26 million viewers.

Formula 1 TV ratings in the U.S. are up 4% from a year ago. It will be interesting to see if F1 can continue to increase TV numbers with one team (Red Bull) having won every race and one driver (Max Verstappen) on pace to clinch the championship with as many as seven or eight races left in the season.

The news isn't so exciting in regards to IndyCar.

According to media watchdog Sports Media Watch, the NTT IndyCar Series, which raced at Mid-Ohio on Sunday, pulled in an average of just 739,000 viewers on the USA network to watch Alex Palou add to his season points lead with the win. That was fewer viewers that tuned in one day earlier for the Formula 1 Saturday Sprint race from Austria (806,000, ESPN) or Saturday's rain-shortened NASCAR Xfinity Series race from Chicago (1.147 million, USA network).