November 2011

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Finale Earns ESPN’s Largest NASCAR Sprint Cup Viewership Ever

The final race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup featured a down-to-the-wire battle for the championship and earned the largest viewership ever for a NASCAR Sprint Cup race telecast on ESPN.

With a peak audience of 10.5 million when the checkered flag fell on champion Tony Stewart at 8:08 p.m. ET, ESPN’s telecast of the Ford 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 20, averaged 6,799,000 viewers and earned a 4.6 household coverage rating (4.0 U.S. rating), according to the Nielsen Company. The viewership average broke ESPN’s previous record of 6,668,000 viewers for the 2008 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Final figures do not include a rain delay from 4:45-6 p.m.

Viewership was up 21 percent and the rating was up 18 percent from last year’s event, which also aired on ESPN and earned a 3.9 coverage rating and averaged 5,605,000 viewers. In addition, the 2011 race out-delivered the 2009 race that aired on ABC and earned 5,607,000 viewers and a 3.6 U.S. rating.

Ratings for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup on ESPN and ABC increased 14.8 percent from 2010, averaging a 3.1 U.S. rating compared to 2.7 for last year (not including the rain-delayed Chicagoland Speedway event, which was run on a Monday). Also, excluding rainout races, ESPN and ABC’s NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage for 2011 averaged a 3.2 U.S. rating, up more than six percent from a 3.0

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PENSKE RACING
Penske Racing extends its apologies to Dr. Jerry Punch, our media partners and our sponsors and fans for Kurt Busch’s inappropriate actions in Homestead on Sunday. These actions do not represent Penske Racing and are inconsistent with the company’s standards for behavior, respect for others and professionalism. This matter is being reviewed internally with no further comment at this time.

YOUTUBE VIDEO LINK (COLORFUL LANGUAGE)

KURT BUSCH
Unfortunately, our result in the season-ending race at Homestead on Sunday was not what we had hoped for as a team. In my frustration with the loss of my transmission early in the race, I let my emotions get the better of me. I regret having done this and apologize to the sponsors of Penske Racing , to NASCAR, its fans, to the media and in particular, Dr. Jerry Punch.

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Pos Driver BPts Points Ldr Nxt Starts Poles Wins T5s T10
sDNFs Money Won PPos G/L
1 Tony Stewart 40 2403 0 0 36 1 5 9 19 1 $6,529,871 2 1
2 Carl Edwards 29 2403 0 0 36 3 1 19 26 0 $8,485,989 1 -1
3 Kevin Harvick 30 2345 -58 -58 36 0 4 9 19 1 $6,197,144 3 0
4 Matt Kenseth 34 2330 -73 -15 36 3 3 12 20 3 $6,183,584 6 2
5 Brad Keselowski 29 2319 -84 -11 36 1 3 10 14 1 $5,087,744 4 -1
6 Jimmie Johnson 33 2304 -99 -15 36 0 2 14 21 2 $6,296,359 5 -1
7 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 9 2290 -113 -14 36 1 0 4 12 2 $4,163,688 7 0
8 Jeff Gordon 35 2287 -116 -3 36 1 3 13 18 3 $5,912,834 11 3
9 Denny Hamlin 20 2284 -119 -3 36 0 1 5 14 2 $5,401,193 10 1
10 Ryan Newman 24 2284 -119 0 36 3 1 9 17 0 $5,303,023 9 -1
11 Kurt Busch 29 2262 -141 -22 36 3 2 8 16 3 $5,936,466 8 -3
12 Kyle Busch 45 2246 -157 -16 35 1 4 14 18 4 $6,161,023 12 0
13 Clint Bowyer 20 1047 -1356 -1199 36 0 1 4 16 6 $5,633,951 13 0
14 Kasey Kahne 20 1041 -1362 -6 36 2 1 8 15 4 $4,775,156 14 0
15 A J Allmendinger 7 1013 -1390 -28 36 0 0 1 10 1 $4,825,564 16 1
16 Greg Biffle 17 997 -1406 -16 36 3 0 3 10 2 $4,318,053 15 -1
17 Paul Menard 11 947 -1456 -50 36 0 1 4 8 2 $3,853,688 18 1
18 Martin Truex Jr. 16 937 -1466 -10 36 1 0 3 12 3 $3,955,563 23 5
19 Marcos Ambrose 10 936 -1467 -1 36 0 1 5 12 1 $4,750,389 17 -2
20 Jeff Burton 9 935 -1468 -1 36 0 0 2 5 3 $3,807,776 22 2

Continue reading “2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Unofficial Driver Points”