Martinsville NASCAR race draws 1.987 million viewers

NXTbets Pro | Published On: November 5, 2026

Martinsville ratings

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway drew 1.987 million viewers and earned a 1.15 rating. The telecast was the least-watched non-delayed NASCAR Cup Series race on broadcast TV, and it came in below both Martinsville races earlier in the season cycle. The March race drew 2.394 million viewers, while last year’s fall race pulled 2.3 million. That left this year’s Martinsville telecast about 313,000 viewers behind the fall race from a year ago, a decline of 13.6% using Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel formula for the year-over-year comparison.

Championship stakes

That backdrop did not translate into a larger audience. The race still carried championship implications, but the viewership data pointed to a smaller audience than at the other Martinsville dates. The result underlines how difficult it can be for a high-stakes championship race to hold viewers across a long season.

Series average

The Martinsville race also fit into a broader season trend. Through nine races, the series was averaging 1.71 million viewers, down 3% from 1.77 million a year earlier. That decline is smaller than the single-race drop at Martinsville, but it still shows the season running below last year’s pace. The average suggests the viewership base has held relatively steady, yet the series has not fully matched the numbers it produced during the same stretch a year ago.

NASCAR now turns to the championship race, where it is scheduled to crown its Cup Series champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway. NBC is set to air the race at 3 p.m. ET.