Saturday’s broadcast of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season-opening race, the United Rentals 300, on The CW didn’t disappoint from an entertainment standpoint, coming down to the wire with a dramatic ending. And coincidentally, it didn’t disappoint from a ratings perspective either.
Just as the leader, Jesse Love, crossed the line to signal the final lap, a multi-car crash led to officials waiving the white flag, resulting in Love coming away with the win at Daytona International Speedway.
Multiple cars collected coming to the line, and @jesselovejr1 wins! pic.twitter.com/n1GRq8EmeF
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 16, 2025
On Tuesday, Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal reported that 1.8 million viewers tuned into Saturday’s race, peaking at 2.2 million total viewers. When you compare this to the 2024 season-opening race, which was impacted by weather, it was a 93 percent increase in total viewers.
Saturday’s race also compares quite favorably to past season-opening races, drawing the highest season-opening viewership since 2020. Additionally, it drew the highest viewership total for any Xfinity Series race since 2022.
.@TheCW says it drew 1.8 million viewers for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity United Rentals 300, per @Nielsen fast nationals, the best for a race in that series since spring Talladega 2022 and the most-watched Daytona season opener since 2020. pic.twitter.com/i2hCLMPrFo
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) February 18, 2025
This year marks the first that the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be aired in its entirety on the network after airing the final eight races of the 2024 season.
While there is obviously a long way to go in the remainder of the 2025 Xfinity Series, this has to be seen as an overwhelmingly positive start to the season and to the full-time partnership between the Xfinity Series and The CW.
