Pit Stop: NASCAR Netxel Cup Series Ratings on Fox

When Fox Sports capped its 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race schedule with the recent Pepsi 400, it brought to a close a half-season of coverage that saw lower ratings for most of the network’s races this year compared with 2003.

Eleven of the 16 races on Fox or FX leading into the Pepsi 400 posted lower ratings than last year, and the 5.0 overnight for that July 3 race was down from last year’s 5.1 overnight posted by NBC for its 2003 Pepsi 400 coverage.

For the season, Fox averaged a 5.6 rating for 13 races, down 3.4 percent from its same-race average in 2003. FX averaged a 3.95 cable rating for its three races, down 7.1 percent. The Fox average excludes the Pepsi 400 as well as the Daytona 500, which aired on Fox in 2003 (9.8/21) but NBC this year (10.6/24).

NBC and cable partner TNT have race coverage the remainder of the year.

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