The Good Ranchers 250, IndyCar’s first race at Phoenix Raceway since 2018, drew a television rating of 1.247 million viewers on Saturday per Fox PR. The race peaked at 1.468 million viewers from 5 to 5:14 p.m., which was the end of the race where Josef Newgarden took the lead and ultimately won.
The ratings for Saturday’s race were down slightly from IndyCar’s season opener in St. Petersburg, which averaged 1.4 million viewers. Viewership saw a 77% increase from last year’s race at The Thermal Club, however, which was the second race of the 2025 season. For the second year in a row, all IndyCar races will be broadcast on Fox, which now owns a one-third stake in IndyCar’s parent company, Penske Entertainment.
Fox and IndyCar made a concerted effort to avoid the series’ typical lulls following the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. This is the first season that has intentionally begun with back-to-back race weekends since 2012. The season will begin with three straight race weekends for the first time ever, as the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington is set for Sunday.
Last year, three weeks separated the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix. But this year, the first three races of the season come within two weeks of each other. It’s unknown whether the week-by-week viewership will continue to decline with this week’s race in Arlington, but so far, the drop-off between IndyCar’s first two races of the year has lessened.
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motorsports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motorsports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar TV ratings for Phoenix race, history compared to Thermal, St. Pete
