NASCAR's early-season ratings woes continued yesterday, as the Monster Energy Cup Series Auto Club 400 drew a record low overnight on Fox. The net drew a 2.4 overnight for the late afternoon race from Southern California, down 17% from a 2.9 last year. Yesterday's race had competition from second-round NCAA Tournament games, as well as the PGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational. Last year's race from Fontana went up against the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tourney and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. After five Cup races this season to date, all have seen double-digit percentage drops compared to '17 and four have seen record-low audiences.
The chart below lists overnight ratings from weekend sports telecasts on broadcast TV. CBS aired NCAA Tourney games, but only viewership figures were available through Saturday.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RATING
|
| "World of X Games: The Cabin Report" |
3/17
|
ABC
|
2:30-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
| "World of X Games: Freesurfer" |
3/17
|
ABC
|
3:00-3:30pm
|
0.4
|
| "30 for 30": "No Mas" |
3/17
|
ABC
|
3:30-5:00pm
|
0.6
|
| Six Nations Rugby: England-Ireland (taped) |
3/17
|
NBC
|
12:00-2:30pm
|
0.8
|
| PGA Tour: Arnold Palmer Invitational: Third Round |
3/17
|
NBC
|
2:30-6:00pm
|
2.3
|
| Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series: Auto Club 400 (Fontana) |
3/18
|
Fox
|
3:45-6:45pm
|
2.4
|
| PGA Tour: Arnold Palmer Invitational: Final Round |
3/18
|
NBC
|
2:00-6:45pm
|
3.6
|
