IndyCar’s season opener got off to a fast start on its new home.
Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg averaged 1.42 million viewers on Fox, according to multiple sources citing Nielsen data. Excluding the Indianapolis 500, Alex Palou’s win was the most-watched IndyCar race on any network since 2011, setting a 14-year high.
OFF. AND. RACING! 🏁
FOX Sports opens the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES in a big way with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg scoring a 14-year high and peaking at more than 1.8 million viewers! pic.twitter.com/bXIQqDRenn
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) March 4, 2025
The race was up a whopping 45% versus last year’s opener on NBC (975,000 viewers). Fox’s viewership figure this year did finish a smidge below NBC’s Total Audience Delivery figure in 2022 (1.43 million viewers), which includes streaming via Peacock. While Fox’s figure from Sunday does include streaming, it only includes streaming that requires a pay TV authentication via the Fox Sports App, which is why the network is claiming the 14-year high.
Semantics aside, the property is objectively off to a strong start in its first season on Fox. The network has made clear that it’d like to be the premier destination for motorsports fans in the United States.
Part of that strategy is leveraging its popular package of NASCAR races to introduce fans of the stock car racing circuit to IndyCar. On Sunday, Fox had the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersberg lead directly into a NASCAR race at the Circuit of the Americas.
Speaking with Puck’s John Ourand last week, Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks said, “There’s potential to get more crossover between both series. We’re going to have IndyCar and NASCAR races on the same day several more times.”
NASCAR still exerted its dominance over the American motorsports fan, drawing 4.13 million viewers for its Cup Series race on Sunday. But even if Fox can convert just a portion of those NASCAR fans into IndyCar fans, the strategy will be worthwhile.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.