IndyCar's Long Beach Grand Prix viewership surged 130% with help from NASCAR

IndyCar's Grand Prix of Long Beach attracted 1.269 million viewers on Sunday, per Fox Sports. The race saw a 130% increase in viewership from last year's race, which drew 552,000 viewers.

Last year, the Grand Prix of Long Beach aired at the same time as the final round of the Masters Tournament. IndyCar and Fox, which now owns a one-third stake in the series, made a concerted effort to avoid having a race the same weekend as the Masters this year, which paid off in the TV audience.

This year's race, which Alex Palou won for the first time, was also aided by Fox airing NASCAR's AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway before the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Grand Prix of Long Beach peaked at 1.527 viewers from 5:58 to 6:00 p.m., when the green flag was waved. The AdventHealth 400 drew 2.319 million viewers, peaking at 3.345 million viewers when Tyler Reddick won the race from 5 to 5:15 p.m.

IndyCar is now averaging 1.239 million viewers through five races. The Children's of Alabama Grand Prix, the most recent race before Long Beach, is the lone race this year to not surpass one million viewers.

The Grand Prix of Long Beach was the fifth race of this season, and it drew 79% more viewers than last year's fifth race, the Sonsio Grand Prix, which drew just 710,000 viewers. IndyCar has had one extra race leading into May this year than it did last year in hopes of retaining viewership. There will now be two weekends without a race leading into this year's Sonsio Grand Prix (May 9) before practice for the Indianapolis 500 (May 24) begins.