How social media is changing the NASCAR fan experience

Over the past few years, NASCAR has increasingly understood social media as a key weapon in reinvigorating fan experience, moving away from waning viewership, especially in attracting younger audiences. Now, with the sport embracing social media, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube have become essential links between the sport and its fans. It changes how the sport is consumed, how to engage fans with drivers, and how the sport markets itself.

Real-time interaction and engagement

Social media allows NASCAR to engage with fans in real-time, especially during live races. Live tweets help share updates on a race, and Instagram Stories let you get a closer look at the action unfolding behind the scenes. And fans are more into the sport than ever. For instance, NASCAR started promoting meme-driven promotions in the 2023 Cup series playoffs, which caught the attention of the younger market, bringing in a new wave of fan engagement.

Further, NASCAR’s fan-driven campaigns like the #NASCARthrowback were a huge success. And without question, the #NASCARThrowback campaign during the Darlington Raceway’s popular “Throwback Weekend” has indeed been a huge success. The program encourages fans, teams, and drivers to honor the sport’s history with retro paint schemes, outfits, and more. A big factor in this success is social media, where fans have shared ‘throwback’ content and been sharing the hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.

In one very successful year, the campaign received 91 million impressions and a 17% higher engagement rate than the usual posts. NASCAR demonstrates that it’s able to tap into its heritage while providing strong interaction among its fan base. Nostalgia plus digital engagement are a great combination that has helped #NASCARThrowback become a fan-favorite annual event.

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The power of collaborations

Through partnering with platforms such as Netflix for docu-series that revolve around NASCAR drivers and teams, the sport has found a way to capture new audiences who otherwise were not interested in stock car racing. NASCAR has partnered with Netflix to create a new documentary series focusing on the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, titled “NASCAR: Full Speed.” It premiered on January 30, 2024, with five episodes of 45 minutes. An exclusive, behind-the-scenes peek at the 10-race playoff series featuring top drivers Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, and Ross Chastain, to name a few.

The thinking behind this collaboration is to replicate the success of Formula 1’s ‘Drive to Survive’ by attracting younger audiences. It also provides a deeper insight into the drivers’ lives both on and off the track, as well as the dynamics at play behind the scenes around the team and families. Thus, it became a huge hit since then, entering the domestic and international markets. The show ranked among the top five most-watched shows in the U.S. and Canada and cracked the top 10 in the UK, Ireland, and South Africa.

Full Speed played a major role in helping NASCAR in terms of metrics and ratings. The Phoenix and Bristol races saw respective increases of 11% and 19% in viewers over last year. And four consecutive races saw growing viewership. While the viewership impact of the series is still being assessed, the show undoubtedly drew in new viewers. 88 % of those who watched the series premiere had not watched the NASCAR championship last fall.

Diversity and inclusion: Drivers’ messages amplified

Bubba Wallace wears I Can't Breathe shirt, sports Black Lives Matter racing car at NASCAR event

NASCAR has seen how social media can be used to amplify messages of diversity and inclusion. With Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok as platforms, drivers can directly access millions of fans and share their personal stories and support for important causes. For years, NASCAR has been making steady efforts to promote diversity, including the Drive for Diversity Program, which supports drivers and crew members from less-represented communities.

Drivers such as Daniel Suárez and Bubba Wallace have used social media to voice their opinions on equality and representation. In 2020, Wallace gained a lot of attention and became the most prominent driver in terms of activism, speaking out on matters of equality and representation. And the efforts have paid off. NASCAR has seen a rise in minority viewership, particularly among younger demographic groups.

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Fantasy leagues and fan participation

NASCAR fan engagement has reached new heights with the rise of fantasy leagues. Like Fantasy Live and the NASCAR Playoffs Grid Challenge, fans can sign up with friends to form leagues and draft teams with the chance of winning prizes. Interactive experiences combining the sport with the community push fans to follow it more closely, with each race becoming an opportunity to show which country is the greatest.

With mobile apps and online platforms, it is much easier than ever for fans to engage with NASCAR. NASCAR allowed tens of thousands of fans to join their fantasy leagues in 2023 where they competed for prizes worth a total of $50,000. That definitely proved how fantasy sports help increase fan engagement and attract new audiences for the events.

The future of fan engagement

NASCAR is looking into new ways to boost fan engagement. So they are targeting new technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and eSports.

NASCAR’s introduction of VR provides fans with a highly immersive experience. Two of the initiatives are Virtual pit stops and interactive race views. The partnership between NASCAR and Meta enabled VR experiences to be brought to Meta Quest 2. Fans can virtually attend races such as Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 in VR. By making them part of the action, they feel involved in what’s happening. And we should expect these immersive experiences to grow. Not only that, but NASCAR is also considering platforms like Apple’s Vision Pro headset.

NASCAR, though, is also looking at eSports — particularly with its eNASCAR iRacing Series. This is a platform geared slightly towards younger, tech-savvy people. It is a realistic racing simulation covering real-world NASCAR events. The attention the series is receiving is helpful to keep NASCAR relevant in the digital age.