The FOX Sports ratings for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville have been revealed. The race drew a handful fewer viewers than the year prior, down about 1.2% overall.
According to a report from Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal, the race was watched by 2.394 million fans on FS1. That was down from 2.422 million a year ago.
NASCAR has found viewership increases tough to come by this season, following an excellent start to the season at the Daytona 500. That race saw viewership up about 11% year over year. But few other races have followed suit.
In fact, Phoenix is the only other track so far that has posted a year-over-year increase. That was a marginal 1% bump year over year.
Other tracks have seen declines from the previous year. Atlanta’s viewership this year was down 2% from last year, COTA was down 4.8% and Las Vegas was down by about 8%. Meanwhile, the race at Darlington was down about 3.5% from last year’s equivalent track.
Chase Elliott take NASCAR Martinsville win
To beat Denny Hamlin on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, you were going to need to pull off something special. That’s exactly what Chase Elliott and the No. 9 team did, holding off Hamlin to win their first race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Hamlin, who started on the pole, had far and away the dominant car at Martinsville. He led 292-of-400 laps and had control of the race before green flag pit stops in Stage 3. That’s when No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson made a gutsy call.
Elliott, running ninth on Lap 261, short-pitted and inherited the lead after the leaders came down pit road about 30 laps later. Hamlin took the lead away from Elliott on fresher tires, but a caution for debris gave Elliott the break he was looking for.
Two more restarts would ensue, Hamlin stumbling off the final restart, allowing Elliott to race his way into the lead. From there, it was about holding off Hamlin for the final green flag run in Stage 3. Hamlin couldn’t catch Elliott, who took the checkered flag to a massive pop from the grandstands.
On3’s Nick Geddes also contributed to this report.
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