Bud Shootout Tops Ratings, But Down from Last Year

The 2009 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona gave Fox an easy win in Saturday night primetime ratings. According to Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel, the preliminary numbers show Fox drawing 7.6 million viewers for its race coverage.

But Jayski.com reports that the Shootout ratings are down 9% from last year:

Both the Bud Shootout and [Daytona 500 pole] qualifying posted declines compared to last year's ratings -- 9% for the Shootout and 22% for the qualifying -- and the Shootout fell to its lowest overnight rating ever on FOX.

It's been easy to blame sluggish ticket sales and empty seats on poor economic conditions. Last year high gas prices took the fall. But these TV ratings declines have been going on for a few years now and it's hard to pin that on the economy. For awhile now fans have expressed dissatisfaction with NASCAR's direction, including its much-touted "Realignment". Perhaps these fans are serious.

One thing to consider... the Shootout race ran only 78 laps and yet was able to spawn eight cautions. That's pretty embarrassing for an "all-star" event. Extrapolated out to 500 miles and that could speak to the quality of racing to expect on Sunday.