IndyCar's TV audience dips at Road America

Getting a handle on where the ratings for each new IndyCar Series race will fall during the debut on FOX has been a challenge during the opening half of the championship.

The three races stretching from Indianapolis, Detroit, and outside St. Louis surpassed an average of 1 million viewers apiece, but the seven-figure momentum didn’t continue through Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America where 781,000 people watched Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou capture his sixth victory of the year.

According to FOX, the audience was down 10 percent from 2024 where 863,000 people watched Team Penske’s Will Power win on NBC, yet peaked at 934,000 viewers in the run to the checkered flag from 3:30-3:45pm.

Despite the dip, FOX reports the season to date is “up 25 percent vs. last year’s 626,000 viewers for the IndyCar 2024 non-Indy 500 race average on NBC/USA/CNBC.”