FOX Sports’ INDYCAR Coverage Scores Second Consecutive Year of Double-Digit Viewership Growth

FOX INDYCAR Posts +23% Year-Over-Year Viewership Gain, +57% vs. 2024 

Key Audience Demographics Help Fuel INDYCAR, Highlighted by Growth in P18-49 and P25-54 

FOX Powers Nine Races with at Least One Million Viewers -- Most Since 2008

ALL IN: INDYCAR Documentary Series Captures Viewers, Renewal for 2027

LOS ANGELES – FOX Sports announced today its blistering momentum with the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season averaging 1,681,000 viewers per race, highlighted by the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 (6,635,000 viewers), the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. (3,282,000), and the XPEL Grand Prix of Road America (1,803,000), according to Nielsen Media Research.

The FOX INDYCAR viewership average is up +23% vs. last year’s full-season average (1,362,000 for 17 races), and up +57% vs. 2024’s full-season average (1,073,000 for 16 races), good for the best viewership since 2008. Additionally, FOX INDYCAR scored nine races with at least 1,000,000 viewers, the most since 2008 (10). 

FAST START, NEW EVENTS HIGHLIGHT 2026 FOX INDYCAR SEASON

The FOX INDYCAR season got off the starting line with a stronger schedule than in 2025, slotting in three consecutive races -- and four total -- in March, including a doubleheader with NASCAR in Phoenix with the Good Ranchers 250 (1,247,000 viewers) and the debut of the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington (1,336,000 viewers), teaming with the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers on the world-class, Texas-sized event.

The Freedom 250 added a tentpole event of epic proportion in August, with the FOX audience peaking at nearly 3.5 million viewers and delivering media coverage from around the world. The race was the most-watched non-Indianapolis 500 event since the 2008 U.S. open-wheel racing merger.

FOX SPORTS SEES ANOTHER YEAR OF GROWTH WITH KEY AUDIENCE DEMOS

FOX INDYCAR coverage saw a second consecutive year of growth in the coveted P18-49 audience demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 2026 season finished up +10% vs. 2025 (341,000 vs. 310,000) and up +66% vs. 2024 (205,000). Also in 2026, P25-54 was up +15% vs. last year (412,000 vs. 358,000) and up +63% vs. 2024 (253,000).

INDIANAPOLIS LED THE WAY IN RATINGS AMONG METERED MARKETS

Indianapolis led the way in 2026 for NTT INDYCAR SERIES viewership. The top-10 metered markets are as follows: 

1. Indianapolis – 4.94/22

2. Fort Myers – 1.84/7

3. Milwaukee - 1.79/8

4. Louisville – 1.69/7

5. St. Louis – 1.62/7

6. Dayton – 1.59/6

7. Cincinnati – 1.48/7

8. Birmingham - 1.44/5

9. Detroit – 1.29/6

10. Knoxville – 1.25/5

FOX SPORTS DIGITAL KEY SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:

ALL IN: INDYCAR, the real-time, season-long documentary series produced by FOX Sports, INDYCAR and Shadow Lion, the critically acclaimed creative studio co-founded by Tom Brady, scored more than six million views on YouTube in its first season, averaging nearly 500,000 viewers an episode. The series has been confirmed for a second season in 2027.

Also in 2026, the debut season of SPEED WITH HARVICK AND BUXTON FUELED BY POET amassed more than 100 million views on FOX Sports Social and Digital platforms, making it the fastest ever to hit that mark on FOX Sports platforms. The original digital program also eclipsed 200,000 followers across FOX Sports Social and Digital platforms. 

In August, FOX Sports Digital delivered full coverage of the Freedom 250 across Social and Editorial, which ranked as the most-viewed non-Indianapolis 500 race week of the INDYCAR season on Social (21M views) and the highest time spent reading on Editorial (5:31).

INDY NXT BY FIRESTONE ALSO SHOWS DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH

The INDY NXT by Firestone season averaged 127,000 viewers (17 races on FS1/FS2), up +14% vs. last year's full-season average (111,000 viewers for 14 races), according to Nielsen Media Research. The top-three highest-viewership races were Mid-Ohio 1 with 250,000 viewers (July 4), Barber 1 with 191,000 (March 28) and Arlington with 176,000 (March 15).