IndyCar's Mid-Ohio race gets significant viewership bump on Fox

IndyCar viewership continues to rise in 2026, with Sunday's Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio being the latest example. Fox had 1.344 million viewers tune in to the road course race, which is a 73% uptick from last year (775,000 viewers).

The race's viewership peaked from 2:30 to 2:42 p.m., when 1.541 million watched Pato O'Ward take the checkered flag for his first win of the season. IndyCar is averaging 1.979 million viewers this year, which is up 18% from 2025.

Eight of IndyCar's 11 races this year have had over one million viewers, with 10 of them having at least 900,000 viewers. Fox's second year broadcasting IndyCar (and first full year since acquiring a one-third stake in the series) has widely been a success.

The next IndyCar race, the Music City Grand Prix, is on July 19. The green flag for the race is tentatively set to wave at 5:40 following Fox's coverage of the World Cup final. The Music City Grand Prix's pre-race coverage will air on FS1 at 4:30, with minimal time between the start of the broadcast on the network channel and the green flag.

IndyCar and Fox are hoping to retain World Cup viewers for what could rival the Indianapolis 500 (6.635 million viewers) as the most-watched race of the season. The 2022 World Cup final had 25.8 million viewers in the United States.

Zion Brown is IndyStar's motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar's motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports 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's Mid-Ohio race gets significant viewership bump on Fox