Preece’s Daytona Win Delivers NASCAR’s Most-Watched Summer Race There Since 2021

Ryan Preece captured his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2026 season in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, and the dramatic finish translated into a strong audience for NBC.

The race, the 26th points event of the Cup Series calendar, drew an average of 3.509 million viewers for NASCAR and USA Sports, making it the most-watched second Daytona race since 2021, according to figures cited in the race recap.

The on-track action set the stage for a tense finish. Shane van Gisbergen took Stage 1 and Ryan Blaney claimed Stage 2, but neither driver stayed out front when it mattered. Preece, driving for RFK Racing, emerged with the trophy in the season’s marquee summer superspeedway event.

Media Context

The broadcast sits within NBCUniversal’s NASCAR coverage. Comcast (CMCSA), which owns NBC and USA Network, carries the Cup Series as part of the sport’s current media-rights cycle, with summer races airing on NBC and USA. Comcast shares closed recently at $26.49, down 0.64% from the prior close of $26.66, in Communication Services/Telecom Services — though daily share movement is unrelated to any single broadcast.

Audience figures like Saturday’s are a closely watched signal in sports media, as live motorsports remains one of the few consistently linear-TV-friendly formats. Daytona’s second annual Cup date traditionally draws a smaller audience than February’s season-opening Daytona 500, so outperforming recent August editions is a meaningful audience benchmark for the rights holder.

The strong number arrives at a busy point in the NASCAR calendar, with the Cup Series heading to Darlington, where the playoffs and interest in betting markets around each weekend’s race continue to grow alongside broadcast viewership.

What to watch

• Upcoming Darlington race viewership, as playoff-round ratings typically trend higher than regular-season events.
• NBC’s remaining 2026 NASCAR broadcast window and any updates from Comcast’s next quarterly earnings report on media-segment results.
• Season-long Cup Series ratings trends as the 2026 championship picture develops.

Source: original release