(
)
Blood, sweat and Danica.
That’s the formula that sent TV ratings for NASCAR’s Daytona 500 soaring 30 percent — drawing its biggest audience since 2007.
Fans were primed for the Super Bowl of the speedway on Sunday after an ugly crash the previous day sent 28 spectators to the hospital and grabbed headlines.
Also fueling ratings was Danica Patrick, the trailblazing female driver with plenty of crossover appeal. A six-time winner of the IndyCar Series’ most popular driver award, Patrick became the first female driver to win Nascar’s Sprint Cup pole position.
“Three things led to the big ratings,” said Tag Garson, senior vice president of global media at Wasserman Media Group. “The stars performed, Danica Patrick was at the pole, and the additional news coverage highlighted the accident that took place at the Nationwide Series.”
“People are as fascinated as ever by the fastest female that open-wheel or stock-car racing has ever seen,” said Anthony Schoettle, racing analyst and columnist at the Indianapolis Business Journal.
He said Patrick might “snap Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 10-year streak as NASCAR’s most popular driver, an amazing feat for a rookie.”
The race, which was broadcast by Fox, scored a hefty 10.0 preliminary TV rating, according to Nielsen. That translates into more than 11 million homes. (News Corp. owns Fox and The Post.)
The Daytona 500 hasn’t scored a year-over-year viewer increase since 2008. Ratings last year were dragged down when rain forced the race to move to Monday night from Sunday.
Even before the green flag launched the race, Patrick was a big winner, outselling the usual merchandise kings of the speedways — Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, according to racing merchandiser Fanatics.com.
“She was the first female to have a lead in the Daytona 500. She was even in third place heading into the final lap, only to finish eighth,” said Brad Adgate, senior research director at Horizon Media. “This helped keep viewers interested in the race.”