Who Will Be The Next NASCAR Driver To Join Twitter?

This year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship battle between Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards was unquestionably one of the most exciting title races in the sport’s history.

But from a social media standpoint, it was disappointing.

Since neither driver has a Twitter account nor is active on Facebook (Edwards has a Facebook fan page with nearly 200,000 “likes,” but hasn’t posted since Oct. 9), both men – and their sponsors – missed a tremendous opportunity to grow their personal brands and market themselves and while the national spotlight was on NASCAR.

It’s not just the title contenders, though. Along with Stewart and Edwards, NASCAR’s most popular driver does not use any form of social media. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has detailed his opposition to tweeting several times, said as recently as Champion’s Week in Las Vegas he has no plans to start tweeting.

It’s a shame, really. Five-time champ Jimmie Johnson showed an entirely different side of his personality after he began tweeting in March and undoubtedly gained fans as a result. Jeff Gordon also hopped on the Twitter train this year and has been very interactive, along with Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth – who has been widely lauded for his quick-witted tweets.

While most of the star drivers now tweet, the absence of Stewart, Edwards, Earnhardt Jr. and Clint Bowyer is noticeable. NASCAR drivers are already behind in the Twitter race (the top athletes in most other major sports – including golf – have far more followers than the top drivers) and they need the help of an engaged fan base to catch up.

It certainly would help if a couple more big-name drivers started tweeting.

What the non-tweeting drivers don’t understand is Twitter doesn’t take a huge time commitment. It’s the equivalent of sending a quick text, and no one is expecting drivers to constantly update with posts. If Earnhardt Jr. joined and updated even once a week, his fans would be happy because they’d feel like they had a direct line to their favorite driver.

In addition, Twitter doesn’t have to be an invasion of privacy. Tweets such as “Heading to a sponsor appearance, hope to see you there!” or “Had a good top-five finish today, we’ll try to get ‘em next week” are perfectly acceptable. What matters is the online presence.

It was acceptable to be a Twitter holdout when people weren’t really sure whether the site would be a quick trend and decline like MySpace. But now that its staying power is obvious, turning a blind eye to the benefits of tweeting is simply not smart business – nor is it fan-friendly.

So which driver will break down and start tweeting in 2012 after previously swearing off participation in social media?

The best chance appears to be Bowyer, since he’s now driving for a team owner (Michael Waltrip) who maintains a heavy Twitter presence and will surely emphasize the importance of tweeting to his new employee.

It’s also possible Twitter-friendly Roush Fenway Racing could eventually wear down Edwards and convince him to start an account this year.

Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart, though, remain longshots. They simply don’t have to tweet in order to gain sponsors, and both drivers have enough clout that no one can strong-arm them into joining Twitter.

But it sure would be nice. And in the meantime, a crucial aspect of modern technology is passing them by.