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FOX Broadcast of Road America IndyCar Race Averages 1.8 Million Viewers
The June 21 XPEL Grand Prix averaged 1,803,000 viewers. The audience marked the largest non-Indy 500 IndyCar telecast since 2011.
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The XPEL Grand Prix at Road America on June 21 drew an average of 1,803,000 viewers on FOX, Forbes reported. Christian Lundgaard won the race. The figure represented the highest non-Indy 500 IndyCar audience since 2011.
Viewership rose 131 percent from the 781,000 who watched the 2025 Road America race on the same network. It also exceeded the 867,000 average for 2025 non-Indy 500 Sunday races on FOX by 108 percent. The broadcast became the most-viewed IndyCar event at Road America since the 2008 merger.
The audience peaked at 2,943,000 viewers between 2:29 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Coverage followed a FIFA World Cup match between Spain and Saudi Arabia at Atlanta Stadium. Road America also posted 256,000 viewers in the P18-34 demographic, up 294 percent from 65,000 in 2025.
IndyCar on FOX and FS1 averaged 2,033,000 viewers across 10 races through June 2026. That total rose 14 percent from the same point in 2025 and 44 percent from 2024. The season start marked the strongest for the series since 2008.
“It was an exciting weekend at Road America for the NTT IndyCar Series and to see the impressive ratings results from Sunday’s FOX broadcast with an average of over 1.8 million viewers – the largest series race viewing audience outside of the Indianapolis 500 since 2011 – is amazing,” Roger Penske said June 24.
“FOX and IndyCar are seeing the benefits of committing to a full race season on broadcast,” Jacob Ullman, FOX Sports SVP of Production and Talent Development, said. Mark Miles, Penske Entertainment president and CEO, called the 1.8 million viewers a big-time number for the series.
