On Sunday, NASCAR hosted their biggest race of the season. The race took place on the 2.5-mile of Daytona International Speedway in Florida.
NASCAR moved the race by an hour due to incoming weather. That generally doesn’t help the viewership but it’s still the most viewed Daytona 500 in several years.
7.489 million viewers tuned in for Sunday’s race on average as reported by Adam Stern. That’s up from the 2025 race which brought in 6.76M.
Daytona International Speedway sold out the grandstands for the race with 101,500 tickets. Total attendance was around 150,000 including infield attendees and the grandstand seating.
Thursday’s Duel races had viewership at 1.835M. That’s near identical to 2025 numbers with 1.837M. Wednesday’s NASCAR Daytona qualifying was seen by 710,000.
Outside of Cup racing, Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race locked in 1.812M viewers.
Speedweeks attendance was around 450,000 per statements from the track. That includes all attendance for all events during the NASCAR week.
Daytona 500 Race Results: February 15, 2026 (NASCAR)
February 15, 2026
Viewers: 7.489M
February 16, 2025
Viewers: 6.761M
February 19, 2024
Viewers: 5.964M
Daytona International Speedway | NASCAR
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