Indianapolis 500 averages 7.05 million viewers on Fox, the race's biggest audience in 17 years

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sunday's Indianapolis 500 had its biggest television audience in 17 years.

Alex Palou's victory averaged 7.05 million viewers on Fox, according to Nielsen. That is the largest audience since 2008, when Scott Dixon's win averaged 7.25 million on ABC. That was also the first year of a combined open-wheel series

The viewer numbers peaked at 8.44 million for the race's conclusion from 4:15-4:30 p.m. EDT.

This is the first year that Fox has the IndyCar package. IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had a long relationship with ABC from 1965 until 2018 while NBC aired the prestigious race from 2019 through 2024.

It was a 40% increase from last year when the race averaged 5.02 million on NBC.

It is only the second time since 2001 that the Indianapolis 500 has outdrawn the Daytona 500. The Feb. 16 race averaged 6.76 million, but was delayed twice by rain for a total of 3 1/2 hours.

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AP IndyCar: https://apnews.com/hub/indycar