Alex Palou's historic win also brought big viewership to the first running of the Indy 500 to ever air on FOX, which saw a 40% jump in viewership from last year.

LOS ANGELES — Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 had its biggest television audience in 17 years. Alex Palou’s victory averaged 7.05 million viewers on Fox, according to Nielsen. That is the largest audience since 2008, when Scott Dixon’s win averaged 7.25 million on ABC. That was also the first year of a combined open-wheel series.

It was only the second time since 2001 that the Indianapolis 500 has outdrawn the Daytona 500 in TV viewership.