Social media giant Twitter partners with NASCAR

So Twitter is partnering with NASCAR, like I didn’t see that coming. Two years ago I wrote about the advantage NASCAR fans have through social media over other sports and their fans.

“Social media and Twitter in particular will be vital to the growth of our sport,” said NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Steve Phelps. “This sport is founded on access to the drivers. Twitter is a great opportunity for our fans to get closer to the activity and drivers. We are the first league that Twitter has chosen to partner with. It is going to provide a great complement to our race broadcast for our fans and a great behind-the-scenes look for our fans.”

It is nice to see the 140-character at a time form of social media jump on board with NASCAR. Twitter offers an interaction between fans, teams, drivers, and members of the media that no other sport can provide it’s fans. I mean look what happened back in February when Brad Keselowski decided to pass his time during a red flag stop in the Daytona 500 by ‘Tweeting’ what was going on from his point of view.

His actions alone gained him more than 100,000 new ‘followers’, and gained NASCAR more attention in both traditional media and social media circles.

“I think Twitter has a large effect on myself personally and the sport,” said Keselowski. “It is a great opportunity to combine technology and give more access to our fan base. I get on Twitter and I love to tweet. The best of that was being in Daytona and tweeting during the race. It was something out of the ordinary. I love that opportunity to connect with a larger fan base than what I can meet in one day. It’s just amazing the type of passion fans have. It’s such a positive thing for the sport.”

It is this fan advantage that NASCAR has over more traditional stick and ball sports that attracted Twitter to NASCAR as Omid Ashtari, head of Sports and Entertainment for Twitter, stated during today’s press conference;

“NASCAR has some of the most passionate fans in all of motorsports, and we want to be able to bring those fans closer to the race,” Ashtari said. “Twitter gives fans all around the world the opportunity to get close to the drivers and teams they love. Some of the best examples we have seen are Brad Keslowski during the Daytona 500. It was a very unique moment for all of us. It gave the fans a different perspective and unique angle they haven’t seen before. Another favorite example was recently when 12 drivers went to the White House, and Jimmie Johnson tweeted a picture of Dale Jr. trying to tie his tie as they were headed to the White House.”

For those of you who aren’t in the conversation yet you can join us at Twitter by using hashtag #NASCAR.

- this story was created using portions of press release from Charlotte Motorspeedway Public Relations