It also revealed last weekend's coverage of the Winston Cup race in Miami delivered a 5.2 nation rating - its best ever audience share when going head-to-head with the NFL - and the best ever rating for the event in its four year history.
The strong recent showing has pushed up average ratings for NASCAR coverage on NBC and TNT to 4.3, up 13 percent on 2001 and a massive 59 percent over 2000.
The rating is the percentage of all homes with televisions, whether or not they are in use. Each rating point represents a little more than 1.05 million homes.
NASCAR TV ratings in the US have rocketed by 59 percent over the last two years, according to the latest figures issued by Nielsen Media Research.
