That means roughly 10 million homes were watching the 500, and 24 percent of all TVs in use at the time were tuned in. Daytona is always the big game, the Super Bowl of motor sports. Some people are watching for the accidents, the recent increase in ratings proves this. Take Tony Stewart's incident at Daytona this year. His car managed to get airborne, flip multiple times, go over a few cars, and he still walked away.
People like to see that.
The sport suffered a great loss that same day with the death of Dale Earnhardt. It is a sick love for destruction that intrigues our society. I am in no way saying that we should be censored of what we watch, see or hear. The newest fans are the ones drawn into the sport to watch the destruction. The ratings aren't going to drop in the near future either.