NASCAR, USA TODAY Sports Launch NASCAR Fan Index To Rank Top Driver Nations In The Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 8, 2015) –- NASCAR and USA TODAY Sports today launched the first-ever NASCAR Fan Index, a digital index that combines social media activity and online fan voting to determine which Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ driver has the greatest “fan nation” in this year’s “Battle of Nations.”
Beginning this week and running through the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 22, the NASCAR Fan Index will rank the top driver fan bases based on aggregated social chatter and weekly online voting. The index is measured based on the social activity of each Chase driver’s nation, including sharing photos and videos, as well as the voting results across fan-friendly themes such as best driver nickname and best paint scheme.
“NASCAR has one of the biggest fan bases in sports, and its fans are famous for their loyalty to their favorite drivers,” said Dave Morgan, President, USA TODAY Sports Media Group. “As 16 Challengers battle it out in the Chase, the NASCAR Fan Index will quantify the passion their respective fan bases generate off the racetrack to ultimately determine which Chase driver has the most passionate nation.”
NASCAR fans can vote an unlimited number of times for their favorite drivers in the weekly polls at nascarfanindex.usatoday.com. Additional themes will include best helmet design, best warm-up song, best race win burnout and best driver tweet of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
The NASCAR Fan Index will monitor social activity across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Google+. Fans can help their drivers’ nations score higher in the Fan Index rankings by posting driver-related content and using hashtag #FanIndex.
Social chatter is tracked weekly, with rankings released each Friday at the end of the voting period for each week’s poll theme. Results will then be added up into a final cumulative Fan Index at the end of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
The NASCAR Fan Index is one of several components of the sport’s “Battle of Nations” marketing campaign, a massive, industry-wide effort to promote The Chase and encourage fans to rally around their favorite Chase driver nations. Fans can join the battle by visiting NASCAR.com/Chase.
The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race will be the Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond International Raceway on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The race will be broadcast live on NBCSN, MRN, and SiriusXM Satellite Radio, with additional coverage on NASCAR.com.
Sources: Pete Stuart/NASCAR PR