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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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Kyle Busch Wins Record-Breaking 50th NASCAR Nationwide Series Race
2009 Series Champion Now In Sole Possession of All-Time Series Wins Lead

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 26, 2011) – After winning the Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway Friday night, Kyle Busch became the all-time NASCAR Nationwide Series wins leader, breaking a tie with Mark Martin.

The victory was Busch’s fourth at Bristol and 50th overall since his series debut in 2003.

On May 14, 2004 at Richmond International Raceway, Busch drove the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory. It was the 18th career series start for Busch, then 19, who led 236 of the 250 laps in that event.

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