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The One About NASCAR

The One About NASCAR

February 21, 2025

Can NASCAR Find Its Way?

I had the opportunity to attend the Daytona 500 for the first time in my life last weekend. It was a special moment for two reasons. First, I grew up in a small town in North Dakota, which is, for those of you who don’t know, NASCAR alley. My entire family—my uncle, all my cousins—are all huge fans. You were either a big Dale Earnhardt fan or a Jeff Gordon fan. As a kid, that divide was a big deal.

Had to grab a picture with The Rizzler himself.

I was lucky enough to be born during the golden era of NASCAR. It’s no secret that NASCAR has faced a tough 15 years with declining viewership. As I stood at the Daytona 500, I kept asking myself whether NASCAR would ever return to its golden era.

Is it Possible?

My quick answer is yes, and I have some pretty interesting examples that back up my thesis. The first is WWE. I was also born into what people call “the golden era of wrestling” and also experienced the incredible popularity of the Attitude Era. Back then, wrestling was as popular as its ever been, but I would argue that in 2025, WWE is currently the biggest and most impactful (as a company and organization) it has ever been in its history. The second example is Formula 1. Before Liberty Media purchased F1, the brand wasn’t growing, and they had lost their way. But today, we have these massive spectacle events with drivers that everyone knows.

Completely sold out crowd at this year’s Daytona 500

One thing that really stood out to me is that the NASCAR community is still there. There’s this diehard fan base that shows up to events—I saw it firsthand on race day. Plus, according to Sports Business Journal, viewership for the Daytona 500 was up 13.3% this year—even after a four-hour rain delay.

What is NASCAR Missing Right Now?

The most obvious thing that NASCAR is missing is the stars. Loyal NASCAR fans know who all of the drivers are, but if you’re a casual fan of the sport—or just a fan of sports in general—there’s a high likelihood that you have no idea who any of the drivers are. The young and up-and-coming drivers aren’t well known outside of NASCAR fans.

Formula One, on the other hand, has big-name drivers with huge personalities—Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris. They’ve built this strong social following. I get that it’s not exactly apples to apples because NASCAR isn’t on the same global scale as Formula One, but if NASCAR wants to get back to where it was, it needs a few breakout stars. Lando Norris has almost 10M followers on Instagram, Chase Elliott (one of NASCAR’s most popular drivers) on the other hand has 500K.

If you’ve been reading Night Light these last 2 years, you’ll know how much I talk about F1 and how big of a role that Drive to Survive played in its popularity. I would bet that most of you don’t know that there’s actually a NASCAR version called Full Speed that was on Netflix in January of last year. While has been renewed for a second season, I think we’ll have to see if this show can do for NASCAR what Drive to Survive did to F1.

They Need More Spectacles

NASCAR needs to do a better job of making more races feel like weekend spectacles. The Daytona 500, on its own, is a spectacle—it’s one of the biggest events of the year in America, in my opinion. But that’s the only NASCAR event most people think about when looking at the calendar. I asked a few people in my office to name big NASCAR events and half of them said Indy 500 (IndyCar and NASCAR are completely different).

They need to find a way to make more races feel like must-see events, with that same level of excitement and anticipation as the Daytona 500. NASCAR has 26 regular season races over 38 weeks every year, if you’re not a fan of the sport you probably only think there’s only a few big races.

The Big Takeaway…

Being from North Dakota, I want nothing more than for NASCAR to return to the golden era, with household names and huge stars. After actually making it out to a race, it’s clear to me how strong their community and fanbase is, even after a long rain delay. NASCAR has some work to do, but It was great to see creators leaning into the event like they did this year.

Lastly, huge shoutout to Night client Frankie Muniz for his top 10 finish in the Nascar truck series, can’t wait to watch him this weekend in Atlanta.