Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 qualifying drew 987,000 viewers on Fox as Alex Palou won the pole for the second time in his career. After rain forced IndyCar to reschedule and qualify all 33 cars in the field to Sunday, nearly 1 million tuned in to see the Top 12 and Fast Six rounds on Fox from 4 to 7 p.m.
The ratings were a slight increase from 2025’s Sunday qualifying session, when one car was bumped from the field. There was a 7% increase from last year, which received 924,000 viewers for Fox’s first broadcast of qualifying. Sunday’s TV audience peaked at 1.207 million viewers from 5:15 to 5:30 p.m., when cars in the Top 12 were qualifying to make the Fast Six.
Fox is in its second year of broadcasting IndyCar, and it’s the network’s first full season with the series’ rights since it purchased a one-third stake in IndyCar’s parent company, Penske Entertainment, last summer. Four of the first six IndyCar races this year have received over 1 million viewers.
Last year’s Indy 500 broadcast averaged 7.05 million viewers on Fox, which was up from the 5.024 million viewers NBC got for the rain-delayed race in 2024. This week’s race will be the third in a row where the local TV blackout in Indianapolis is lifted, as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway grandstands have sold out again.
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: Indy 500 qualifying ratings see slight increase on Fox