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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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After Tony Stewart climbed from his #14 Chevy in Victory Lane at New Hamphire, he said “We got rid of some dead weight earlier this week, so it’s made it a lot easier,” Stewart said of his team’s sudden turnaround. “It’s been a big weight lifted off our shoulders. Sometimes you’ve got to make adjustments in your life, and we did that, and it’s definitely helped this weekend for sure.”

UPDATE: LISTEN TO WHAT THE GUYS HAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS ON THIS WEEK’S THE FINAL LAP PODCAST

Here’s the exchange in the media center afterwards when ESPN.com reporter Ed Hinton tried to follow up….

Q. Tony, ever since you were on TV in Victory Lane, the buzz all around the track and Internet is wondering what you meant when you said, We dropped some dead weight earlier this week.

Continue reading “What did Tony Stewart Mean by getting rid of ‘Dead Weight’ after New Hampshire Win?”

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Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup To Be Seen Like Never Before

NASCAR, Turner Sports and ESPN to Make RaceBuddy and WatchESPN Available to Fans for the First Time Ever During the Chase

Heading into the start of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR, ESPN and Turner Sports, which manages NASCAR.COM, announced today details of a new partnership that will provide race fans with a never-before-seen digital viewing experience during the sport’s postseason run. NASCAR.COM’s RaceBuddy product will be available for the first time ever during the Chase while NASCAR content will appear for the first time ever in ESPN’s WatchESPN.com platform and WatchESPN app.

RaceBuddy, NASCAR.COM’s popular, interactive live video product, will feature two mosaics with a mix of eight in-car and stationary cameras positioned around the track for the nine Chase races airing on ESPN. Fans wanting to watch ESPN’s live telecast on their computer, smartphone or tablet will now be able to do so through ESPN’s groundbreaking application, WatchESPN and WatchESPN.com.

Continue reading “WatchESPN to have 9 of 10 Chase Races online and apps”