The Daytona 500 received an overnight Nielsen rating of
7.9/20, up 3% over last year's overnight rating of 7.7/19.
The overnight rating ties this year's race with the '92 and
'94 Daytona 500s, and the race will now outrate the last
three runnings of the Indy 500 (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 2/16).
IS SMI OPEN TO SALE OF TV RIGHTS? Speedway Motorsports
President Humpy Wheeler "indicated" on Sunday that he and
SMI Chair Bruton Smith are "leaning toward accepting" NASCAR
President Bill France's proposal to unify all NASCAR TV
rights, according to Mike Mulhern of the WINSTON-SALEM
JOURNAL. Wheeler said he has "been talking" with NASCAR
officials about future TV negotiations over the past few
weeks, and despite a previous "reluctance," is "more
positive" about giving up the right to negotiate individual
track TV deals. Wheeler: "We've looked at that hard, and I
think it will probably be the way to go." Wheeler: "2000 is
the year a lot of contracts are up. So the 2001 season will
be a fresh, new start. That's when Fox can come in big, or
NBC. The fact that NBC has lost the NFL in the fall puts
them squarely in the hunt" (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 2/15).
