NASCAR Social Media Spotlight: Round 4

Overview: For the year of 2011, NASCAR News And Notes will focus the spotlight on multiple social media pages of a group or person that is connected with NASCAR. Whether it be because of recent news, being in the spotlight, or just because they are connected with social media, many will be posted on this blog to promote their page, add social media stats, or just discuss their on or off track stories.

The recent years of NASCAR has seen more focus being put on the way NASCAR is viewed on Television than ever before. With TV ratings down and track excitement up, many people point to the TV as the main reason for NASCAR's decline.

One man who has revolutionized how we view NASCAR TV is John Daly. Daly, who started The Daly Planet not too many years ago, has been able to create a following of fans through his venture of analyzing NASCAR on Television.

Daly worked for ESPN for quite some time early in his career, but now focuses on the TV business in a different way: as a fan who is not afraid to point out problems with how NASCAR is portrayed each day.

John Daly has been pushing for a plethora of changes with NASCAR TV contracts and agreements such as online streaming, side by side commercial breaks, Sirius Satellite NASCAR streaming, simple techniques that can enhance race coverage, and more. Some of his ideas have been transferred over into TV, some obviously have not. However, he is not afraid to keep pushing.

One of the biggest revolutions that Daly has pushed for is with social media. He continues to argue that social media has been lacking in NASCAR and needs to become more relevant very quickly. He has never been afraid to push on air TV talent to get social media pages, and has even kept asking for more social media interaction between them and fans during telecasts. As a result of his pro social media views, it is right to include him in this social media spotlight blog series.

The Daly Planet has both a Twitter and a Facebook account. Daly's Twitter account has over 4,700 followers as of February 2nd, and the Facebook account has over 1,200 likes as well. This is quite an impressive following.

NASCAR's social media presence is improving, but as John Daly points out, it is far from where it needs to be. As NASCAR's TV contract runs down in the next few years, it is certain that Daly will be watching and no doubt giving his feedback to represent the fans.


Editor's Note: If you may have more information regarding this topic or have future suggestions regarding future topics of this blog series, you can email us at nascarnewsandnotes@gmail.com

Previous Social Media Spotlight blogs:
Round 1: NASCAR The Game 2011
Round 2: Kelley Earnhardt
Round 3: NASCAR On SPEED team

NASCAR Social Media Spotlight: Round 3

Overview: For the year of 2011, NASCAR News And Notes will focus the spotlight on multiple social media pages of a group or person that is connected with NASCAR. Whether it be because of recent news, being in the spotlight, or just because they are connected with social media, many will be posted on this blog to promote their page, add social media stats, or just discuss their on or off track stories.

Last week, NASCAR Sprint Cup teams stopped at Daytona International Speedway for a test session. These tests are usually very rare due to the no-testing policy and are usually never televised.

NASCAR fans have had a lack of online streaming for quite a while, but SPEED.com would soon change that. They offered fans over 20 hours of coverage(including a rain delay and an extended session) on both SPEED channel and mostly on SPEED.com

I would just like to add that the online streaming was commercial free.

Not only did SPEED nail the coverage and impress a plethora of fans, they provided a great deal of social media interaction.

All on air talents on SPEED interacted with fans via their Twitter account(except Jeff Hammond and Larry Mac who do not Tweet). Krista Voda, Darrell Waltrip, Steve Byrnes, John Roberts and Bob Dillner all were active on Twitter throughout the programing and even answered fans questions on the air.

This is a huge step in the right direction for NASCAR, as social media continues to grow more and more. The fans of NASCAR have asked for this for quite some time and they got it.

The question now remains of if this will happen during race telecasts.


Editor's Note: If you may have more information regarding this topic or have future suggestions regarding future topics of this blog series, you can email us at nascarnewsandnotes@gmail.com

Previous Social Media Spotlight blogs:

Round 1: NASCAR The Game 2011
Round 2: Kelley Earnhardt (who got married Saturday)

NASCAR Social Media Spotlight: Round 2

Overview: For the year of 2011, NASCAR News And Notes will focus the spotlight on multiple social media pages of a group or person that is connected with NASCAR. Whether it be because of recent news, being in the spotlight, or just because they are connected with social media, many will be posted on this blog to promote their page, add social media stats, or just discuss their on or off track stories.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. does not keep a Twitter account or a Facebook account updated for his fans. Dale Jr explained why last season.

"I had Facebook and MySpace and all that way back in the day, and I just get burned out feeling that responsibility to keep it updated. You know, what for? You gotta get out of the house every once in awhile."

Just because Dale Jr. does not give his fans some entertainment on the social media networks, doesn't mean there isn't anything out there for Jr. Nation.

In fact, they have the next best thing.

Dale Jr's sister, Kelley Earnhardt.

With Kelley Earnhardt so involved in Dale Jr's personal life and career, why not "like" her on Facebook? Over 41,000 people "like" her as of January 14th 2011. That is pretty impressive for an athlete's sister.

She's more than just a sister however, she is the co-owner of JR Motorsports, the person who paired Eanrhardt Jr. with Hendrick Motorsports, and the the main person behind landing Danica Patrick in NASCAR. So she's definetely important and the fans know this too.

Not only does she provide detail about public relations on her Facebook page, she also provides some interesting details about her and her family. She keeps her fans updated on things about her children, her grandmother, certain birthdays in the family, and even more. Not to mention one of the biggest details of her life: her famous brother.

So if you're a fan of Dale Jr, the Earnhardt's, or just Kelley, it might just be a good idea to "like" her on Facebook. After all, she is one of the most powerful women in NASCAR.

Editor's Note: If you may have more information regarding this topic or have future suggestions regarding future topics of this blog series, you can email us at nascarnewsandnotes@gmail.com

Previous Social Media Spotlight blogs:

Round 1: NASCAR The Game 2011

NASCAR Social Media Spotlight: Round 1

Overview: For the year of 2011, NASCAR News And Notes will focus the spotlight on multiple social media pages of a group or person that is connected with NASCAR. Whether it be because of recent news, being in the spotlight, or just because they are connected with social media, many will be posted on this blog to promote their page, add social media stats, or just discuss their on or off track stories.

For week one of this social media spotlight, NASCAR News And Notes will focus on the new NASCAR video game, which is scheduled to be released on February 15 2011, 5 days before the Daytona 500.

The new game, developed and sold by Eutechnyx and Activision, has connected fairly well with fans via social media. The official Facebook page for the new video game has over 6,100 likes as of January 2nd, 2011. As well as Facebook, they also have a few Twitter pages, where those involved in the game answer many questions that fans may have. Developer Dave Thompson as well as Gregg Baker, community manager for Eutechnyx, seem to be the most present figures representing NASCAR The Game: 2011. The official Twitter page for the game has almost 1,000 followers as of January 2nd. This is more than Dave Thompson and Gregg Baker.

The numbers continue to grow for these social media pages and are expected to even more so as the game gets closer to being released.

Editor's Note: If you may have more information regarding this topic or have future suggestions regarding future topics of this blog series, you can email us at nascarnewsandnotes@gmail.com