Dover earns highest rating in history vs. NFL

September 28, 2001
3:06 PM EDT (1906 GMT)

NEW YORK -- Sunday’s MBNA Cal Ripken, Jr. 400 on NBC finished with a 4.5 national rating/10 share, 88 percent ahead of last year’s 2.4 national rating/7 share for the same race on TNN, according to figures released today by Nielsen Media Research.

The 4.5 national rating for NBC’s coverage of the MBNA Cal Ripken, Jr. 400 ties the previous best for any auto race in history competing head-to-head with the NFL.

The DieHard 500 from Talledega, Ala., on CBS on October 12, 1997 posted a 4.5 rating/12 share. Sunday’s coverage peaked with a 5.5 rating between 5:00-5:30 p.m. when Dale Earnhardt Jr. crossed the finish line to win his second NASCAR Winston Cup race of the year.

“NASCAR really is the ratings success story of the year,” said NBC Sports President Ken Schanzer. “We made our deal knowing that NASCAR would compete with the NFL in the second half of the season. Our NASCAR ratings continue to exceed our expectations and projections - we’re well ahead of where we thought we would be.”

The MBNA Cal Ripken, Jr. 400 was the fifth NASCAR Winston Cup race on NBC this year and the 11th NASCAR Winston Cup race in NBC and TNT’s new six-year agreement with NASCAR to telecast “The Race for the Championship” over the second half of the NASCAR season.

Jeff Gordon takes a 212 point lead over second-place Ricky Rudd in the NASCAR Winston Cup point standings into the inaugural NASCAR Winston Cup race from the new Kansas Speedway.

NBC Sports’ broadcast of NASCAR’s “Race for the Championship” continues this weekend with exclusive coverage of NASCAR Winston Cup racing at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday. On Saturday NASCAR Busch Series racing begins at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.