DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Austin Cindric, driver of the #2 Discount Tire Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)The Daytona 500 went almost head-to-head with the NBA All-Star game this past Sunday. Based on the ratings, it looks like NASCAR won the day.
According to Michael Mulvihill, the executive vice president at Fox Sports, the Daytona 500 beat the NBA All-Star Game by a whopping 41-percent. Mulvihill called that the highest gap between the two events in the last five years.
Rookie Austin Cindric claimed victory in a photo finish over Bubba Wallace to win his first ever NASCAR Cup Series race. The Daytona 500 also featured some incredible (and terrifying) moments during the event.
As you can imagine, NASCAR fans are feeling pretty proud this afternoon. Most of them are taking the opportunity to rip the NBA and mock it for being a failure.
General sports fans are surprised but not too surprised given the differences between the two events:
I’m not a @NASCAR fan but I guess I should not be surprised they crushed the @NBA All Star Game in the TV Ratings. Hard to watch NBA All Star Game when players don’t play hard until last 3 minutes. https://t.co/9Tt1R0UUG1
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) February 23, 2022
https://t.co/kvFu206C57 pic.twitter.com/6XCnNyBdHJ
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) February 23, 2022
I'm a little shocked by this. I watched Daytona and knew it got a good rating but for it to trounce the NBA All Star game like this…wow. I only watched a lil less than half the all star game myself. https://t.co/5hG6wzk1wI
— Bigdaddy (@djbigdaddy) February 23, 2022
The NBA is dead man walking. 💀 https://t.co/emrLM0mg7R
— Agent Politico (@agentpolitico) February 23, 2022
This is not surprising. The Daytona 500 is their biggest race of the year and the ASG is completely meaningless and a façade of basketball. https://t.co/sO9uDrbiaD
— Matt McClearin (@McMattRadio) February 23, 2022
It probably helped the Daytona 500 ratings that it didn’t go up against the NBA playoffs. All-star games in most sports have been seeing declining ratings, while the Daytona 500 is the first NASCAR event of the year.
We’ll see if NASCAR events can keep up the momentum against the NBA in more events later this year.
But for now, it’s a big win for NASCAR supporters and they have the right to thump their chests over it.
Will the NASCAR ratings this year outdo the NBA playoffs later this year?
