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NASCAR

NASCAR Goes to the Movies: A New Emphasis Amid Industry Evolution

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The modern media landscape makes it incredibly difficult to know what fans and users want to see on a daily basis, but NASCAR's expanding content team has sought to keep up with the constant evolution by shaking up its approach.

Videos by FanBuzz

Highlighting the racing is still priority No. 1, but this group is adding in jokes, pop culture references, and a touch of cinema.

"Followers of NASCAR social, we have a very diverse mix," Torey Fox, director of social content, told FanBuzz. "We have new fans, we have avid fans, we have casuals. We have people that just truly follow us because they think we're a good follow.

"We have a duty and obligation to serve each of those different groups, and each of the groups, as I'm sure you can appreciate, they all kind of look for something different, and they all engage with with different things."

Fans first saw glimpses of these changes before the 2025 Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium with a video featuring Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and some slick graphics. This trend then continued with the season-opening Daytona 500.

Of course, a big showcase of NASCAR's changing approach to content came in March. The team partnered with Carson Hocevar for a Grand Theft Auto: Vice City-themed clip promoting the return to Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This was not the standard race weekend commercial. It had video game graphics and Hocevar channeling his inner Tommy Vercetti with his movements.

"I think certainly we know from a broader strategy standpoint, we've got to take big moments and make them bigger," Fox said. "Whether it's Daytona, whether it's Chicago, whether it's San Diego, it doesn't matter.

"That's when we look at those, and we identify those kind of key moments on our calendar. That's when we say, 'All right, that's where we're going to dip into the more cinematic, the more produced.'"

Building the content team

NASCAR has the objective of delivering posts that will meet the needs of all of the social media followers, whether it is highlighting the top statistical performers at each track or the more entertaining personalities.

This is no small process, so how does the team make it happen?

An influx of talent has certainly helped. This team has grown significantly since the end of the 2024 season, and it actively seeks new creators to bring in fresh ideas.

NASCAR has a brand content group that's mainly focused on social media and YouTube productions. The company has a group focused on the advertising side, as well as an external group focused on the more cinematic productions. This external group also helps with the YouTube side and scaling some projects.

A key person in this growth process is Jess Smith. She worked at Stewart-Haas Racing at a time when the team chose to highlight driver personalities in unique ways. This includes recreating promotional videos from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. 

Smith joined NASCAR after the 2024 season, and she has since become VP of brand content. It has been during her time at NASCAR that the team has started leaning harder into the personality side of the sport.

"I feel very strongly we have some really great personalities in the garage," Smith told FanBuzz. "I think the sport is different than stick and ball. And so from a content strategy perspective, there was a couple things that we decided that we needed to do, and to do it very differently.

"So the first one was, we need to really double down on our drivers and try to show how to remove the helmet. The DAP (Driver Ambassador Program) is an incredible asset, and so that's an easy unlock for us, right? I think the second piece is, part of the sport is we want to try to be top of mind for people. Motorsports is cool. It's exciting, it's really visceral.

"And I think as a sport, like, it should be fun. And so we wanted to have an approach where we are entertaining. We're trying to make people curious about the sport, while also making sure that diehards and our core fans are getting what they want from a competition standpoint."

While NASCAR further emphasized the driver personalities, the company also partnered with a company called Concept80. This company has done a ton of unique work across other motorsports series, and it appeared to be a natural fit for stock car racing.

Concept80's first project with NASCAR focused on the 2025 Clash. The company has only further expanded into the space with numerous videos. Recent examples include the San Diego street race unveil and the 2026 hype video featuring Marshawn Lynch and Scott Eastwood.

"We used to have an inspiration meeting at Stewart-Haas," Smith explained. "Their work kept coming up, and I was like, 'Who's doing this work?' So I met the founders. Their names are Doug (Stidolph) and Mickey (Fitz), and they get motorsports.

"They've been in it. I think motorsports is nuanced, but they're at the forefront of technology, at the forefront of innovation. They know how to work with drivers. I think that magic combination just made a really good partnership."

Getting drivers to buy in

Getting drivers to willingly put themselves on camera for something outside of the race car is no easy prospect. Sure, it's easier when the sponsors come calling. They are the ones supporting each driver's career, so there is some give and take in that relationship.

Drivers are willing to feel awkward if they are making the sponsors happy. It's why Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher did synchronized head bobs for Trimble, and it's why Shane van Gisbergen put on a blazer over his firesuit to act like a news anchor.

"I hate that s—- (laughs)," Shane van Gisbergen told FanBuzz. "But I try and do as least as possible...I think with Trackhouse (Racing), we do a lot of different stuff, which is good.

"We're not doing the monotonous same stuff, so it makes it less painful, I guess. And yeah, when it's always different and exciting, I don't mind doing it, but I'm not really comfortable behind a camera."

Sponsor requests are one thing, but how does NASCAR get more and more drivers involved in side projects promoting races or little skits teasing each other?

As Smith indicated, NASCAR can offer DAP points, which translate to money. Those with the most DAP points earn the most money.

Joey Logano joked that it would be harder for drivers to say yes to these projects if they didn't have the lure of points, but he also acknowledged that other factors play a role.

NASCAR, Concept80, and the people involved in these productions have to show the drivers that they aren't going to make them look like fools, regardless of platform.

More than one year into this new strategy, the drivers are starting to see positive results. This holds especially true for someone like Kyle Larson, who played a role in a post-Super Bowl 60 commercial.

"The part where I'm yelling — whatever I yelled — 'Let's go, baby' or, 'Hell yeah,' that's not me," Larson said (laughs). "But I do enjoy doing things like that, and especially the crew that they have (Concept80)...they're really, really good, and a lot of fun to work with.

"It's planned, it's quick, it's efficient. So all of those things make it way more enjoyable as somebody participating in it. And then, I mean, it's right after the Super Bowl and stuff. So yeah, it's a great opportunity for myself and Hendrick Motorsports and HendrickCars.com — all the brands really associated with me.

"So yeah, I would say that group has made me really excited. Whenever I hear about doing things, and I hear it's gonna be with them, 'Yeah, let's do it' because it's fun and I know it's gonna turn out awesome."

The results have spoken for themselves, and the drivers have been more willing to get involved as NASCAR's strategy has changed.

Some have come in with more experience than others; Ryan Blaney has made appearances in multiple films and television shows. He has riffed with comedian Kevin James.

Others are a bit green. They don't yet have the reps working on a production. Sure, they have made videos for their respective teams and sponsors, but they hadn't previously been involved in commercial shoots.

This holds true for Zane Smith, who joined a group of actors for a commercial promoting the Daytona 500 and the new "Hell Yeah" campaign.

"They asked if I studied my script, but, like, I had two sentences to say," Smith explained. "This guy — the guy who's like the main character in that — said paragraphs, and it gave me a new level of respect for acting because he did that so many times. And I don't know how he remembered it."

From concept to reality

The NASCAR season is 38 weeks counting points-paying races and exhibition races, but the content team does not solely focus on these events. It has to fill the year with posts and videos that fans will appreciate.

But how does the team come up with enough ideas to fill out the year's calendar?

The process can start with a pitch. A member of the team could talk about an idea, and it could gain traction within the walls of NASCAR's facility. The size of the group and the different backgrounds ensure that all of the pitches will not have the same theme.

Larger events, such as the San Diego street race, require more in-depth planning. Concept80 and NASCAR will build a shell showing what they want to do from a script standpoint. This could include nods to pop culture or references to classic moments in NASCAR history.

An example of this is when they used Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and a DeLorean to announce that the championship would return to Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Once the shell is done, the internal team comes together for a collaborative writing session. This is something similar to how writers and actors do table reads while building the scripts for a new film or episode of a TV show.

This session is where the bigger, more cinematic projects really come to life.

"Does the script feel like it needs more industry inside references," Smith said. "Because we have found some success in giving those nods that only if you're a die hard fan would you know.

"But yeah, my mom watches it and so we're really intentional about — even those pieces that we feel like are more creative trends in the sport — we want to make sure those inside jokes, and those references that if you follow the sport really closely, you get it."

Work on the fly

NASCAR's content team has significantly upped the production level over the past 13-14 months. Videos have become more cinematic, especially with Concept80 adding its expertise. But these projects are far from the only ones turning heads on social media.

The entire team is responsible for capturing photos and videos that can quickly go to the various platforms, and it spends considerable time pursuing this goal.

The Daytona 500 is a fitting example as the team captured more than 19,000 raw photos and more than 725 raw videos.

The interesting thing is that some of the content that performed the best did not have a long production process. NASCAR trusted members of the team to just pull out the phone and record a quick video for social media.

These videos then took off, especially one featuring Lynch on the NASCOOLER tossing beer cans to fans. This particular clip showed the party side of the race weekend.

"It doesn't have to be big edits," Fox said. "It doesn't have to be flashy. Our best performing content, no matter what race it is, can be captured on a cell phone. It's just about being at the right place at the right time with the right caption."

Another example is a photo. Senior Coordinator of Social Media Production Brittany Wilbur, captured Bubba Wallace crouched down in the grass after the Daytona 500. The background featured his teammate, Tyler Reddick, celebrating the biggest win of the year.

"So I think about something like that as a really great piece of content that exemplifies...we do a great job of covering winners and winning moments, and we have plenty of content of the 45 winning at Daytona and (Michael Jordan)," Fox said.

"But I was really proud of our team and our people, because we not only had the MJ/Tyler Reddick stuff, but we also had Bubba Wallace, the agony of defeat. That race is so important to so many people. Winning is incredible, but losing it is also very tough."

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