500 Ratings Down, Trucks Up

Fox Sports reported that its coverage of the 51st Daytona 500 earned a 9.2 rating, down almost 10% from last year's race which earned a 10.2 rating. The steep decline was blamed on rain washing out the event's last 48 laps. Fox says the final laps typically draw the most viewers.

Nevertheless, the race averaged 16 million viewers, just above the NBA Finals and more than twice that of last year's Indianapolis 500.

Meanwhile, ratings for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series opener -- also at Daytona -- posted a 20% increase over last year's race. SPEED televised the Friday night race won by Todd Bodine.

NASCAR and Fox have been consistently pushing the start time for the 500 back the past several years. The intention is to move the race closer to primetime and pick up more West Coast viewers. The downside is what we saw on Sunday: fewer options for completing the race when rain moves in. As such, they lost the highest-rated part of the race. In 2000, the race was scheduled to start at 12:15pm. This year the green flag dropped after 3:30pm.

Daytona International Speedway added a lighting system in 1998 for its July 400-mile race.