Daytona's Ratings Up 30% from Last Year

(AP) Daytona’s preliminary TV rating up from last year
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.

With Danica Patrick starting from the pole, the Daytona 500’s preliminary television ratings were much higher than last year’s.

Sunday afternoon’s race earned a 10.0 overnight rating and 22 share on Fox, the network said Monday. That’s up 30 percent from 2012, when rain pushed the event to a Monday night. It was the highest overnight rating since 2006.

Jimmie Johnson won the race while Patrick was eighth, the best finish by a woman at the Daytona 500.

The race had plenty of buildup: Patrick making history as the first woman to start a Sprint Cup race from the pole, the revamped cars, no more tandem drafting, and a frightening crash the day before in the second-tier Nationwide Series.

Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned to a program. Shares represent the percentage of all homes with TVs in use at the time. Overnight ratings measure the country’s largest markets.