Notes | ABC sees improved ratings
Friday, Oct. 16, 2009
California race scores best Chase ratings so far
ABC’s live coverage of last Sunday's race at Fontana, Calif., earned a national rating of 3.6, the highest so far this season in four Chase races.
The telecast averaged 5,952,978 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
There are no direct comparisons to 2008 as the California race was previously run Labor Day weekend and aired on ESPN. ESPN2’s live telecast of the Nationwide race at Fontana earned a 1.1 rating.
Toyota proud of ‘freshman class’
Lee White, president and general manager of Toyota Racing Development, said the manufacturer is extremely proud of the improvement in its “freshman class” – the teams of Michael Waltrip Racing and Red Bull Racing.
Red Bull placed its first driver in the 10-race Chase this season as Brian Vickers was the 12th and final driver to make the playoff field.
MWR won its first Cup race with David Reutimann, who also came close to making the Chase.
“Last year the most improved group was the Red Bull group. The Waltrip guys, starting from absolute scratch without a marquee driver like a Tony Stewart, are now attracting the better and better people,” said White.
“We are also learning as well. We weren’t the best guys, by any stretch of the imagination, when we started three years ago. We’ve evolved and learned.”
Foyt, Evernham lead another induction
The N.C. Auto Racing Hall of Fame in Mooresville inducted legendary driver and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt in a ceremony this week.
Former championship crew chief and team owner Ray Evernham was also honored.
The Charlotte Observer is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since charlotteobserver.com does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The Charlotte Observer.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking on the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.
@Nyx.CommentBody@