As important as good, close racing is to NASCAR, so too is good content for fans to consume. That can be anything from a printed story to an online piece, from video documentaries and features to podcasts and more.
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In other words, the more you can spread NASCAR’s message across various forms of media, the more the sport and its fanbase will grow.
That’s the philosophy of NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps. It’s also why NASCAR built a $53 million production facility to house all of its content tentacles under one roof.
“I think for us, if you think about our schedule, so we race 38 weekends and but we race on the weekends, so it’s kind of like the NFL,” Phelps said during the recent Axios’ inaugural Media Trends Live Summit 2025. “We want to make sure that after the checkered flag, until the green flag the next weekend, that we are distributing content to different places.
“We need to meet that consumer or that potential fan where they are. So you’re either nurturing the existing fans with content because they want more and more and more, or creating opportunities to meet a new fan so they would be part of our consideration set, that they would say, ‘Okay, I hear about this NASCAR thing, let me see about that’ and we’ll do that in different platforms.”
NASCAR.com is the largest online purveyor of content about the sport, giving fans the meat and potatoes they’re hungry for, such as schedules, driver standings, breaking news, features, and more.
But at the same time, video has become equally, if not more, important than the written word. Plus, video can be spread across different platforms, particularly social media.
“The content portion of that is huge,” Phelps said. “If you think about the Earnhardt documentary on Amazon, or American Thunder on Amazon, or Full Speed on Netflix, or what we do with Roblox or Discord or Substack, or what we do in the gaming space and sports betting, all of these things are meeting that potential consumer where they are and that’s what we need to do.
“The content portion of that coming out of that building is critical because that building really does two things: live event production and then content creation.
“And for us and you look at our digital handles, you look at our social channels, it’s working because it’s growing. And we’re hearing positive things from those that are participating.”
Without question, NASCAR is the big honcho when it comes to motorsports in the U.S., drawing the greatest amount of interest from racing fans, far and away ahead of other series such as IndyCar, NHRA drag racing, Formula One, sprint and midget racing, etc.
Said Phelps: “We are competing for your time and other people’s time, because if they’re not watching NASCAR, are they watching Netflix? Are they watching movies? Are they watching CNBC? What are they doing when they’re not doing that.”
NASCAR also goes head-to-head with other sports such as the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL.
But those are not the only entities that battle for a consumer’s dollar. Entertainment as a whole, not just sports, is also what NASCAR competes against, including movies, cable TV, streaming, satellite radio, and so much more.
