Wow! What a Speedweeks this year! That’s about all I can say to describe the events at Daytona at the beginning of this 2012 season. I can’t remember ever witnessing a crazier start for any of the three main NASCAR series, Cup, Nationwide and Trucks. NASCAR is continuing to prove themselves as a fans sport and this Daytona 500 they earned a ton of respect.
It was raining on Sunday, which delayed the start of the race. However, NASCAR handled it well and kept fans up to date with their thought process. I feel like this is largely due to NASCAR officials presence on social media, specifically Twitter. I was able to follow along with the majority of conversations on my own timeline and it was simply amazing. I can’t think of any other sport that has embraced social media in the same way NASCAR has, or as largely as the NASCAR community has.
Despite the rain delay, many fans were able to experience a great NASCAR event because of social media. Drivers who are on Twitter held tweet-ups with fans or had trivia questions with giveaways and autographs for winners. Landon Cassil (@landoncassil) specifically earned respect for me. He held a spur-of-the-moment tweet-up at a Burger Kind close by and gave coupons to fans that came for free whoppers. Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck), a journalist for SB Nation, also held tweet-ups throughout the weekend with fans. Sometimes drivers make an appearance at these tweet-ups with prizes for fans. On Monday, however, Landon Cassil and Jeff Gluck teamed up for a Burger King tweet-up and a round of mini-golf with fans.
NASCAR is truly a fans sport and this weekend showed it loud and clear. It was a great reminder for me personally, and I’m sure several others as well. Kudos to NASCAR for remembering that the reason we have this great sport is because of the fans. Thanks for giving back so much and giving the everyday fan a chance of a lifetime.
May this racing season bring lots of excitement both on and off the track!
God Speed,
Tracy Lynn
Tracy Bonzo 
Hey Tracy;
Yes, kudos for NASCAR to sticking it out and kudos to them for delaying the race until 7pm last night when they knew rain was all over the place for a day race. But at the same time, I do say “shame on them” just a little bit for holding the FOX channel captive for so long Sunday when it was evident the race would not run on Sunday.
Dr. Rus
Hey Dr. Rus,
This is true. I was more impressed with their use of social media throughout the weekend. I know it gave a lot of fans who were disappointed with not being able to see the race a better experience. It’s definitely a step in the right direction that they needed.
Tracy
How about last night during the race when they red flag was on and they were twitting including @keslowski from the car and down on the track!
Yes, that was awesome as well! And I’m glad to see that NASCAR is not going to penalize him for having his phone in his car.