The inaugural race of the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES delivered the series’ most-watched season-opener in 11 years as Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin took the checkered flag at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding on Sunday, Feb. 27 on NBC and Peacock Premium.

The race averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.429 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, making it not only the most-watched INDYCAR season opener in 11 years (St. Petersburg, 2011, 1.840 million, ABC), but also the most-watched non-Indianapolis 500 INDYCAR race in 11 years.

Sunday’s race was up 53% compared to the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opener at Barber (932,000 viewers; April 18) and up 15% vs. last year’s St. Pete race (1.246 million; April 25), both on NBC.

Bolstered by streaming on Peacock, the race delivered an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 23,800 viewers, the largest streaming audience on record for an INDYCAR SERIES race, excluding the Indy 500. The AMA also includes streaming on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app via authentication.

Viewership for the race peaked with a TV-only audience of 1.509 million viewers and averaged a household rating of 0.89. TAD is based on data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

NBC Sports and Peacock resume their NTT INDYCAR SERIES coverage with the XPEL 375 at 12:30 p.m. (ET) Sunday, March 20 at Texas Motor Speedway.