Under the hood of Nascar’s social media strategy

This story is the eighth in a series about how marketers for sports teams and leagues around the world approach social media strategy.

Motorsports fandom in the US is getting turbocharged. And while many people may associate the boost with Formula 1 and Netflix’s Drive to Survive docuseries, F1 isn’t the only motorsport that’s revving its engines.

In the past year, Nascar has shown signs of audience growth in the US, adding about 1 million followers on Instagram, a 41% YoY increase in 2024, Torey Fox, Nascar’s director of social content, told Marketing Brew. On both TikTok and YouTube, follower count is up by 14% YoY, he said.

Highlights are almost always guaranteed to please sports fans on social, but Fox said his team is also focused on posting educational content about Nascar, as well as other types of content designed to help get newer fans hooked and keep them coming back for more.

“The real work begins, in my opinion…once we get them in the door,” Fox said. “I’ve been very confident in what we do here, that not only can we keep them, we can convert them into someone who not only is going to follow us on Instagram, they’re going to follow us on other platforms, they’re going to tune into the race on Sunday, and then they’re going to come to the racetrack, too.”

Class is in session: “Like many other leagues and teams,” Fox said, Nascar aims for a more casual tone on social. At the same time, “we want to be the expert in our field,” he said, especially considering Nascar’s growing follower count, which Fox said includes “newer, younger, more diverse audiences,” who may not be as well-acquainted with the ins and outs of stock-car racing.

To help newer fans better understand the sport, the Nascar social team explains what’s happening in videos through copy and captions, posts about topics like how the playoffs work, and shares facts about drivers, Fox said.

Reel ’em in: Few modern social strategies are complete without TikTok, but it’s actually Instagram Reels that has been driving much of Nascar’s social growth, according to Fox. For about three months leading up to mid-November, 65% of the account’s new Instagram followers came via Reels, he said.

The best-performing Reels were “the ones with the most unique visuals, or just the most out-of-the-ordinary-type moment,” Fox said. As of mid-November, one post of a fuel cap coming off a gas can during a pit stop had been played 63 million times, and another demonstrating the 33 degrees of banking at the Talladega Superspeedway has been watched 10 million times, according to Nascar.

“We recognize that people’s first exposure to Nascar, a) [is] probably going to come through a Reel, and b) [is] going to come in a way in which you can’t script,” Fox said. “The people I work with have been able to capitalize on these things. When they see the moment happen, they immediately jump on it.”

Raceway to runway: Fox credits some of Nascar’s social success to its work with external help, like influencers and freelancers. This year, the social team upped the number of freelancers—as well as full-time staff—it sends to races to help film content, he said, and the company has an influencer strategy on top of that.

For some freelancers and influencers, working with Nascar means attending a race for the first time, and that point of view (and creators’ audiences) has proven valuable, Fox said. Nascar remains open to partnering with all kinds of creators, from people focused on the mechanics of the cars to others who are more interested in the fashion trends surrounding the sport.

“I’ve learned…just how important it is for them to get Nascar in their feeds,” Fox said. “It’s about getting new followers, expanding our audience, and growing our accounts. They’re the ones that are going to be able to do that.”

Victory lap: Fox attributes some of Nascar’s social growth to the on-track product, too. Six races in 2024 were won via a last-lap pass, the most ever in a single season, and three of the eight closest finishes in Cup history happened in 2024, he said.

Between those exciting moments, follower growth keeps climbing: It was up 7% from 2021 to 2022, 8% from 2022 to 2023, and 12% this year, according to Fox. Hopefully, he said, that growth doesn’t slow down any time soon.

“There’s just an energy, and there’s a momentum, and a vibe,” Fox said. “It’s all coming together here,” he said, later adding that “we’re as motivated and as fired up as we’ve ever been going into 2025.”

12/6/24 Update: This story has been updated to clarify a stat.