NASCAR's Mexico City race outpaces F1 and IndyCar viewership with youngest Cup Series demographic since 2017

NASCAR's Mexico City race has turned heads with impressive viewership numbers, outperforming both Indycar and F1. Prime Video has released viewership stats from Sunday's (June 15) race, revealing the sport's youngest audience for a Cup Series event since 2017.

The Viva Mexico 250 marked NASCAR's return to the country after 67 years. The weekend also drew eyeballs for the hometown debut of Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez, who elevated his game and won the Xfinity Series race on Saturday. Leading up to the event, Suarez took it upon himself to personally the promote race weekend in his home country, with fans thronging his presence everywhere he went.

Notably, Sunday's race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez coincided with the Indycar race at Illinois and the F1 Grand Prix in Montreal, Canada. NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck reported that Prime Video's coverage topped the weekend's motorsport viewership.

"Prime notes the NASCAR viewership for Mexico City race (2.1 million) beat F1’s Montreal race (1.57 million), which was on ABC, and IndyCar on Fox (1.2 million). Prime says Sunday had the youngest audience for a Cup Series race since 2017," he wrote via X.

Prime Video has attracted a large audience for it's 5-race stint with the National Series, beginning with a one month free-trial for anyone interested. The move has apparently paid off, while the company hopes to retain the viewership once the offer wears off.

On the racing front, the Cup Series race witnessed a dominant win by Shane Van Gisbergen, who led 60 of the 100 laps, and easily pulled away from the rest of the field to finish a record 16 seconds ahead, with the result also earning him a playoff bid.

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"People just couldn't believe it": Jimmie Johnson recalls reactions when his NASCAR entry outpaced rivals at 2023 Le Mans

Jimmie Johnson's Garage 56 entry turned heads at the 2023 Le Mans when his Chevrolet Camaro overtook several GTE and even a few LMP2 cars. During an interview promoting Prime Video's documentary 'American Thunder: NASCAR to Le Mans', Johnson revealed the reactions to his modified Next Gen car at the 24 hour event.

He mentioned how the American stock car effort isn't 'as respected' in the International stage and that they entered the fray with a 'chip on their shoulders'. The team finished the race 39th in a 62-car field, despite suffering a drive line issue that set them back an hour of track time.

"The interest that other competitors had in this car was something that I I'll never forget we certainly had a chip on our shoulders because internationally you know us NASCAR guys don't feel like we're as respected as we probably should be," he said. [12:26 onwards] "We knew we were going to be probably held to a higher standard or judged on a different level and to show up and impress top to bottom and then to not only outrun the GT cars but to annoy all the LMP2 cars as we did. People just couldn't believe it."

The Prime Video documentary covers the story behind the Hendrick Motorsports project and the collaborative efforts to mount the sport on the international stage.

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Edited by Pratham K Sharma