Overnight TV Ratings for Fontana Thriller Double
The MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway was heralded by some as one of the most exciting races in the sport's history, which was reflected by a more than 100 percent increase in overnight television ratings. The 250-lap event at Fontana, Calif., which featured an all-time Indy car-record 80 lead changes among 14 of the field's 23 entries, drew a 0.37 overnight rating as reported by Nielsen - up from a 0.18 rating in 2014.
"We put on a heck of a show for the fans, that's for sure," third-place finisher Marco Andretti said. "It's definitely crazy. ... You've got guys that just don't want to back off, guys going forward, guys going backward, inside, outside. I find it quite fun but it is extremely dangerous, but that's what we sign up for."
Ryan Briscoe, whose late-race incident with Ryan Hunter-Reay ended the race under caution, echoed Andretti's sentiments.
"It was a really exciting race, to say the least," said the driver of the No. 5 Arrow/Lucas Oil Schmidt Peterson Honda. "We passed a lot of guys out there so it was fun to be up front. Coming through the field a couple times - it was awesome. I was really enjoying myself."
The race featured a total of 3,173 on-track passes - 2,537 for position - which accounts for 51 percent of the total on-track passes (6,248) in the Verizon IndyCar Series this season.
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