NASCAR Sprint Cup ratings hit a speed bump

NASCAR is on the type of ratings roll that sports leagues prefer to avoid.

Sunday’s Sprint Cup race from Dover averaged 2.6 million total viewers on NBCSN, according to Nielsen, down 21 percent from 3.2 million for the same race a year ago.

The race averaged a 1.5 household rating as well, also down 21 percent from last year. In fact, it was the lowest-rated Chase For the Cup race since the playoff-like format began back in 2004 (excluding rainouts), according to Sports Media Watch.

For this individual race, it was the lowest rating since 2000 and lowest viewership total since 2001.

That’s not a new trend this NASCAR season. Nine of the past 10 races have hit multi-year lows in both ratings and viewership.

Further, all nine of those were either record lows or the lowest numbers in at least 15 years. Also, seven of those races tumbled double-digits versus the previous low.

Why the declines? Well, a few of those races were up against tough competition from the Olympics. Also, blame it partly on the absence of one of the sport’s stars, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is out for the season with a concussion.

In other sports ratings:

- The Kansas City Royals averaged a 10.9 local rating for games this season, the highest in the Major Leagues. That number was off 11 percent from the record it set last year during its World Series run, though.

The St. Louis Cardinals were No. 2 for the season in local ratings with a 8.2 average.

- ABC’s marquee college football matchup between Louisville and Clemson on Saturday night averaged 9.3 million total viewers. That was up 22 percent from the same night a year ago and the second-most-watched college game this season.

Tags: college football, kansas city royals, major league baseball, mlb, nascar, sports ratings, sports tv ratings, sprint cup, st. louis cardinals