The Trackside Report

Thermal, Calif. – On Tuesday, the FOX ratings were released for the NTT IndyCar Series return to the Thermal Club. After a successful first race for the FOX Sports team at the Firestone Grand Prix in St. Petersburg, ratings plummeted by half of the season opener.

The FOX broadcast of the 65-lap race at The Thermal Club pulled in a disappointing 704,000 viewers, compared to the 1.417 million viewers it raked in for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg just a few weeks prior, and down 11 percent from the $1 Million Challenge exhibition race ran the year prior, won by two-time defending series champ Alex Palou – who also won the 2025 season-opener at the Firestone Grand Prix in St. Petersburg.

The 50.3 percent drop in viewership is said to be a result of the series going up against the FS1 broadcast of the NASCAR Cup Series race and the NCAA College basketball tournament. To make matters worse, the FOX broadcast on Sunday afternoon went full blackout for 12 laps due to a “power outage” at the production truck. While FOX corrected the electrical breaker issue in their production truck, IndyCar fans were treated to the FS1 NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The percentage-difference in ratings from the season-opening race and the following race, was the largest percentage drop since 2018, where we saw a 78-percent drop from the St. Petersburg TV ratings to race-two in Phoenix.

The happenings on the FOX side were coined by IndyCar President, Doug Boles as “disappointing”. Hard to tell at this point how this will affect the IndyCar FOX ratings moving forward. The NTT IndyCar Series is back in action April 13 at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX and IndyCar SiriusXM Radio.