NASCAR goes tweet crazy for the DAYTONA 500

February 18, 2016 Adrien Danjou

NASCAR has unveiled a series of digital campaigns ahead of the running of its most famous race, the DAYTONA 500, a 500-mile long motor race which includes 200 laps.

Known as the “Super Bowl of stock car racing”, the race is one of the greatest races in the US, watched by more than 20 million viewers on TV.

In their event promotion, NASCAR has enlisted Twitter’s help in getting fans to join in with the excitement and the buzz around the event, paying homage to the platform’s effectiveness when used as a companion to watch live sport.

Following Twitter’s coverage of events like the Australian Open, Super Bowl 50 and the All Star Weekend, NASCAR and Twitter have created a very colourful emoji to join the official hashtag of the event #DAYTONA500.

BOOM!

Your #DAYTONA500 tweets just got that much better. pic.twitter.com/J15U0yMHvw

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 15, 2016

In addition to the emoji and twitter activation, throughout the week, NASCAR teams and drivers have been getting involved in the DAYTONA 500 promotion, sharing photos over social media, doing Q&As with fans and showing what happens behind the scenes.

NASCAR will also roll out Hashtag 500, a social race on Twitter that will allow users to win authentic memorabilia from this year’s race.

Watching on FOX Sports and/or following @NASCAR on Twitter, fans will receive custom hashtags to tweet with for a chance to win 10 special giveaways. The 500th users to tweet the hashtag in conjunction with #DAYTONA500 will win the race.

The Hashtag 500 is coming up during The #DAYTONA500! Watch the video to learn more.

Rules: https://t.co/lB97h16f1T pic.twitter.com/i7cabvBUCr

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 14, 2016

Twitter has also used its subsidiary platform Vine to promote the event. Throughout the weekend, NASCAR will be extremely active on Vine, creating content related to all the action on and off the track. It will also use Periscope to show live trackside action.

NASCAR + Twitter = ???? #DAYTONA500 https://t.co/t2hqZBUkX5

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 16, 2016

DAYTONA 500 will not be celebrated on Twitter with the race making a splash on television, being the first sports event to be broadcast live on free-to-air in Virtual Reality on FOX Sports.