A compelling finish was not enough to save Sunday’s Daytona 500 ratings. The Daytona 500 earned a 5.1 overnight rating on Fox, down 22% from last year (6.5), down 16% from 2016 (6.1), and the lowest for the race in at least 10 seasons. It’s likely that the 5.1 is the lowest ever for the race, but overnights prior to 2009 were not immediately available.
Dish Network used some in-show branded entertainment to sneak into Fox Sports’ Daytona 500 coverage — this in the wake of ongoing legal activities between the two companies and after Dish said Fox rejected it from buying TV commercials in Fox programming.
