Fox drew a 5.0/11 final national Nielsen rating for Sunday's broadcast of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Coca-Cola 600, 22% higher than the 4.1/11 posted by ABC's race coverage of the Indy 500. Fox claims the ratings difference is the widest margin of victory ever favoring the Coca-Cola 600. Additionally, the NASCAR race generated a 3.4/14 rating in the 18-49 demo and an average audience of 8.4 million, 38% more than the 6.1 million for the Indy 500. It should be noted that the Indy 500 broadcast started at 11:00am ET and was twice interrupted due to rain, while the Coca-Cola 600 broadcast began at 5:00pm (THE DAILY).
MARKET BONANZA: The following charts present market ratings for race coverage of the Coca-Cola 600 (5:45-10:00pm ET) and the Indy 500 (2:00-2:45pm and 4:30-7:30pm ET). Note: ^ = Designated market areas, ranked by number of TV households in each of the 56 metered markets (Nielsen).
| TOP TEN HIGHEST-RATED MARKETS |
| ———COCA-COLA 600——— | ———INDIANAPOLIS 500——— |
| MARKET | RAT/SHR | | MARKET | RAT/SHR |
| 1) | Greensboro, NC | 17.5/30 | 1) | Dayton | 12.0/24 |
| 2) | Charlotte | 15.8/28 | 2) | Louisville | 10.4/19 |
| 3) | Greenville, SC | 12.9/22 | 3) | Cincinnati | 10.0/21 |
| 4) | Raleigh-Durham, NC | 10.5/19 | 4) | Orlando | 8.1/17 |
| 5) | Birmingham | 10.1/17 | 5) | Milwaukee | 8.0/17 |
| 6) | Richmond | 9.8/17 | 6) | Naples, FL | 7.2/14 |
| 7) | Atlanta | 9.1/18 | 7) | Columbus, OH | 7.1/17 |
| 8) | Nashville | 8.8/17 | 8) | Albuquerque | 7.0/16 |
| 9) | Louisville | 8.6/13 | 9) | Nashville | 6.9/15 |
| 10) | Orlando | 8.5/15 | 10) | Phoenix | 6.7/16 |
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| TOP TEN LOWEST-RATED MARKETS |
| ———COCA-COLA 600——— | ———INDIANAPOLIS 500——— |
| MARKET | RAT/SHR | | MARKET | RAT/SHR |
| 1) | New York | 1.2/2 | 1t) | Boston | 1.9/6 |
| 2) | Houston | 1.5/3 | 1t) | New Orleans | 1.9/3 |
| 3) | Denver | 1.7/3 | 1t) | Providence | 1.9/5 |
| 4) | San Francisco | 1.9/5 | 4) | Baltimore | 2.0/5 |
| 5t) | Miami | 2.1/4 | 5) | Hartford, CT | 2.5/7 |
| 5t) | Providence, RI | 2.1/4 | 6) | Washington, DC | 2.7/6 |
| 7) | San Diego | 2.3/5 | 7) | New York | 2.9/7 |
| 8) | Sacramento | 2.5/6 | 8t) | Pittsburgh | 3.0/8 |
| 9) | Los Angeles | 2.6/6 | 8t) | Miami | 3.0/6 |
| 10t | ) San Antonio | 2.7/5 | 8t) | Memphis | 3.0/5 |
| 10t | ) Chicago | 2.7/5 | | | |
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| RATINGS FOR TOP TEN LARGEST NIELSEN MARKETS |
| ———COCA-COLA 600——— | ———INDIANAPOLIS 500——— |
| MARKET ^ | RAT/SHR | | MARKET | RAT/SHR |
| 1) | New York | 1.2/2 | 1) | New York | 2.9/7 |
| 2) | Los Angeles | 2.6/6 | 2) | Los Angeles | 4.6/11 |
| 3) | Chicago | 2.7/5 | 3) | Chicago | 5.9/12 |
| 4) | Philadelphia | 3.6/7 | 4) | Philadelphia | 5.5/13 |
| 5) | San Francisco | 1.9/5 | 5) | San Francisco | 3.6/10 |
| 6) | Boston | 2.8/6 | 6) | Boston | 1.9/6 |
| 7) | Dallas | 3.3/6 | 7) | Dallas | 4.6/10 |
| 8) | Washington, DC | 3.4/7 | 8) | Washington DC | 2.7/6 |
| 9) | Atlanta | 9.1/18 | 9) | Atlanta | 4.6/11 |
| 10) | Detroit | 3.4/6 | 10) | Detroit | 6.0/14 |
