IndyCar Ratings Surge For Acura Grand Prix Of Long Beach On FOX

IndyCar on FOX continues to be a great partnership with increased viewership

FOX Sports

It was a full day of motorsports on FOX on Sunday, April 19 with the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway followed by the 51^st Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach NTT IndyCar Series race.

The combination of the NASCAR race leading into one of the crown jewel races in IndyCar produced a rating surge for the North America’s biggest street race.

FOX’s IndyCar coverage from Long Beach posted 1,269,000 viewers as Alex Palou won on Sunday for the third time in the first five races this season. It was also Palou’s first victory at Long Beach and the 22^nd NTT IndyCar Series win of his career.

Nielsen Research released viewership ratings on April 22 and it continued to show a strong rise in IndyCar viewership.

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach viewership was up 130 percent versus last year’s 552,000 average viewers for the Long Beach race on FOX that aired April 13, 2025. Last year’s telecast was up against the final round of The Masters on CBS but in 2026, FOX was able to have a full day of racing action starting with NASCAR followed by IndyCar and it produced far better ratings.

The Long Beach telecast was up 79 percent versus last year’s 710,000 viewers for the fifth race from Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on FOX that aired on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

It was up 46 percent versus last year’s 867,000 average viewers for Sunday non-Indy 500 races on FOX.

It was also the most-viewed IndyCar race from Long Beach since the merger between Champ Car and the Indy Racing League in 2008.

Sunday’s race telecast peaked with 1,527,000 viewers from 5:58-6 p.m. Eastern Time.

The NTT IndyCar Series on FOX is averaging 1,239,000 viewers through five races. That is up 44 percent over last year’s season to date (863,000) and is to the best start to an IndyCar Series season since 2014.

This is the second season all IndyCar Series races on telecast on the main FOX network. That has helped viewership increase by 66 percent over 2024’s first five race average of 748,000 viewers when IndyCar was on NBC and the USA Network.

The Month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway represents another opportunity for major viewership as FOX airs the Sonsio Grand Prix on the IMS Road Course on Saturday, May 9.

It reaches a crescendo on Sunday, May 24 with the 110^th Indianapolis 500. Last year’s Indy 500 telecast on FOX was watched by 7.088 million viewers with a peak audience of 8.4 million viewers during the final portion of the race.