Coffee With Crawford | Indy 500 viewership soars — and maybe it says more about us than racing | Sports

Fueled by FOX’s marketing blitz, the Indy 500 roared back with its biggest audience in 17 years

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- For years, the Indianapolis 500 — once the American race — had been drifting toward irrelevance.

Formula One grabbed the global spotlight with sleek branding, international stars and Netflix buzz. NASCAR’s Daytona 500 overtook Indy in TV viewership. Even die-hard racing fans began to treat the IndyCar Series like a niche sideshow: fast, fun, but fading.

But not this year.

This year, the Indy 500 won.

It won in storylines. It won in execution. And, maybe most surprisingly, it won in ratings — drawing 7.05 million viewers, its largest TV audience in 17 years, peaking at 8.4 million as Alex Palou crossed the finish line.

It even surpassed the Daytona 500, becoming the most-watched American auto race of 2025. It was the first time in nine years the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" had topped even 6 million viewers. It also was the first grandstand sellout since 2016.

So what changed?

A lot of credit goes to FOX. This was its first Indy 500 broadcast, and it treated the race like the spectacle it used to be — glossy marketing, big-name hosts (Tom Brady and Michael Strahan were featured in the run-up) and promotional punch. The race was everywhere, even advertised during the Super Bowl. It looked like a big deal again. And when you treat an event like it matters, people tend to show up.

But I think there’s something else going on here.

In uncertain times, big familiar traditions take on extra meaning. The Kentucky Derby (which also drew a major audience of better than 22 million for its race segment). The Masters. The Fourth of July.

The Indy 500 — for all its recent struggles — still feels like America in motion. The flyover. The anthem. The bricks. The roar. For a few hours on a Sunday in May, it feels like a time machine to something stable.

Viewership spikes can be explained a hundred ways — better scheduling, favorable timing, and this year, for the first time, Nielsen data that expanded its count for out-of-home viewing. Bigger push from FOX.

But sometimes, people aren’t just watching a race. They’re watching a memory. A tradition. A signal that, despite the chaos around us, some things still hold.

This year, the Indy 500 delivered a great race. But it may also have delivered something else — a reminder that some old institutions aren’t dead. They’re just waiting to be seen again.

Quick sips

- Indy runner-up DQ'd. Marcus Ericsson, who finished second Sunday, was disqualified Monday after post-race inspections found illegal modifications to his car. He dropped to 31st. So did two others. FOX and IndyCar dodged a major bullet: Had Ericsson won, the sport would’ve faced a thunderclap of controversy. Instead, the story is clean: The dominant driver, Palou, won without controversy. And IndyCar earned a rare national moment.

- Indianapolis' great sports weekend wasn't as happy elsewhere. The Pacers fumbled a 20-point lead and fell to the Knicks in Game 3 in Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Karl-Anthony Towns had 20 of his 24 points in an inspired fourth quarter. Earlier Saturday, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever fell to the New York Liberty when Clark's would-be game-winning three-point attempt never got off the launch pad. On Sunday, the team announced that Clark is out for two weeks with a strained quadriceps muscle. Still, credit Indy for a weekend to remember.

The Last Drop