Top Local Markets For Indianapolis 500 On FOX

Indianapolis was the top local market with a 20.9 rating and 68 percent share. That means of all the TVs that were on in Indianapolis, 68 percent were tuned into the Indianapolis 500.

Dayton, Ohio followed at 6.2/24 with Louisville third at 5.7/23, Cincinnati at 5.5/25, Milwaukee at 5.3/27 and Fort Myers, Florida at 5.3/19.

IndyCar on FOX is averaging 2,383,000 viewers through seven races in 2026. That is up 10 percent over last year’s season to date at 2,173,000.

It is also the best start to an IndyCar season since the merger between the Indy Racing League and Champ Car in 2008.

“In its two years on FOX, the Indy 500 has grown by nearly plus 40 percent over what it had been doing prior to our partnership,” said FOX Sports President of Insights & Analytics Michael Mulvihill. “Fans are rediscovering the greatest spectacle in sports, in part, because we’ve made IndyCar easy to enjoy on free TV and we’ve brought a new level of showmanship to an American icon.”

By comparison, the last year the Indy 500 was on NBC was in 2024 and it delivered 5.344 million viewers and a 2.6 share. That race peaked with 6.46 million viewers between 7:15 to 7:30 p.m. when the race was concluding after a four-hour delay to start the race because of rain. In 2023, NBC drew 4.97 million viewers and a 2.65 share. The 2023 race peaked at 6.46 million viewers.

By using those numbers, the ratings on FOX are a 37 percent increase from 2024.

Why It Would Have Been Difficult To Maintain Last Year’s Rating

IndyCar President and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles told me the day after the Indianapolis 500 that he expected a lower rating than 2025 for several reasons. One was the curiosity factor regarding FOX’s first-ever Indy 500 telecast and the huge promotional efforts the network made. The other was the controversy surrounding last year’s Indy 500 regarding officiating that had made it a major news story on networks that weren’t televising the race.

But this year’s Indy 500 didn’t miss equaling last year’s rating by much, giving IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials proof that the series has continued momentum.

Positive Reaction From IndyCar And IMS Officials

Roger Penske is the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar. Penske Entertainment Corporation operates those three entities.

Bud Denker is the President of the Penske Corporation, and I had an exclusive interview with him on Thursday before the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, the next race on the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series schedule.

“The word I use this week is momentum,” Denker told me. “Coming off that amazing race last week in Indy, probably the most spectacular sporting event I’ve attended, not motorsport, but sporting event I've attended. From sunrise until the race ended, the pageantry, the competition, the closeness, never seen before.

“So many people that have no interest in racing called me and said, ‘I watched every minute of that race. It was so compelling at the end of it.’

“I’m excited about the millions of new fans we brought into the sport. I’m excited about the momentum we’re carrying to Detroit. Everybody’s tired. Crews are tired. I’m tired. We’re all tired. But you know what? That momentum carries forward, and that’s what I’m excited by the most.

“You’re absolutely right, there was a lot of firsts last year, especially with FOX doing it as well,” Denker continued. “There were a lot of things going on. Formula One the same day and a little bit afterwards. We were very, very, very interested in the rating we would get. We hoped we would pull a 6 million plus, and we did that well above that.

“As a goal standpoint, we were able to carry that forward from last year. We did it.

“We are so excited about the momentum of the series. Last year we were up 27 percent. This year up another 20 percent, 25 percent, with the Indy ratings as well too.

“Name me another sport with our kind of growth right now. You can’t find one. We have that opportunity to grow it even more.”

Indianapolis 500 Sellouts Are Back

Additionally, this year’s Indianapolis 500 was sold out making it two years in a row that every grandstand seat that was available was purchased along with an infield crowd that boosted the total on the grounds to 350,000 according to Doug Boles.

“We’re really into this two years in a row now with sellouts, but we have to think back to the first three years of owning that Speedway, we had a lot of obstacles in our place,” Denker said. “We had to regrow it because we had a year of nobody there because of COVID (2020). The following year was limited attendance (2021), the following year after that we had full attendance but were regrowing it.

“We're now there.

“With almost $100 million of improvements we have made, people see it. When they come back there and see it now, it’s a new 100-plus-year-old facility because of the investments that Roger and us have made.”

Younger Audience Gravitating To Indianapolis 500

A big reason for that increase in interest is the younger audience have discovered the Indy 500. This year’s “Snake Pit” was sold out for the first time since the 100^th Indianapolis 500 in 2016.

“Those are young people,” Denker said. “The average age would be 21 and 22. They are coming there to see something very different, hopefully graduating into the grandstands, and we've proven that.

“I think also the female side of it, the growth on the female side of it as well. I can tell you one guy who gained a lot of new female admirers is David Malukas. After that race he put on, the emotion, the passion, everything he showed, the humility, was something that everybody gravitated to.

“And he's cute, I understand, from what the girls tell me as well. So, a lot of new female fans are coming in this sport because of our drivers.”

As a side note, the Oscar-Mayer “Wienie 500” on Carb Day last Friday was televised by FOX for the first time ever. New York Dog took the checkered flag over Chili Dog, and the race registered 781,000 viewers on FOX.

Last year, the even was streamed so there was no direct comparison.

Sold out crowd for the second year in a row, followed by more than 6.6 million television viewers is a strong indication that the Indianapolis 500 is back, and it’s back in a big way.