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| NBC's Brickyard 400 Coverage Applauded |
NBC earned a 5.5/12 overnight Nielsen rating for the Winston Cup Brickyard 400 from 2:30-6:00pm ET, down 4% from last year's 5.7/13 (THE DAILY). USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke writes NBC's "was on top of nearly every story" yesterday. NASCAR officials "could have helped by providing more extensive hospital updates on Dale Jarrett's crewmember" who was injured on lap 38 (USA TODAY, 8/4).
REVVED UP: In Winston-Salem, Mike Mulhern noted Winston Cup racing "has more viewers today than ever, and it is on its way to a third straight season of ratings growth." NBC Olympics Dir of Marketing & Communications Mike McCarley said, "Where we're seeing the most amazing growth is in some of the markets that aren't traditional NASCAR markets. ... In Oklahoma City the Pepsi 400 was up 70[%] and the next week the Chicago race was up 60[%]. I called the station to ask if there had been a tornado. No tornado — it was just NASCAR." McCarley added that the three markets with the most people watching are Atlanta, L.A. and N.Y. (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 8/2).
DELAYED REACTION: NASCAR and Lowe's Motor Speedway (LMS) officials confirmed the fall Busch Series race at LMS "will not be televised live Friday, Oct. 10, but shown tape-delayed the next afternoon," becoming the first Busch or Winston Cup race "not shown live on network or cable TV since" NASCAR's $2.4B TV deal with Fox/NBC began in '01 (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/2).
