Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

NASCAR President Steve Phelps Sounds Off on Navigating the Pandemic, Rising Ratings, Tech Innovation

21/10/2021

NASCAR President Steve Phelps Sounds Off on Navigating the Pandemic, Rising Ratings, Tech Innovation New venues, new markets, more diverse audience are part of the organization's transformation By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor

Thursday, October 21, 2021 - 1:34 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

Since being named president of NASCAR in September 2018, Steve Phelps has overseen the organization's dramatic commercial, cultural, and technological transformation. Most notably, in 2020, he guided NASCAR through a pandemic-afflicted season, during which it became the first sport to return to competition and bring back fans to the venue.

At SportsBusiness Journal's World Congress of Sports last week, Phelps discussed how NASCAR has navigated the pandemic, its improving TV ratings and efforts to expand its audience, its commitment to racial equality and social justice, this year's dynamic new race schedule (featuring new venues, markets, and track layouts), the highly anticipated launch of the Next-Gen car next year, and more.

On NASCAR's being the first major league to come back during the pandemic:

We were dark for 71 days while we devised a plan that worked to get back to racing. On May 17, 2020, we went back to racing in Darlington with no fans. And then, in mid June, we started slowly bringing back fans, and that felt good. It was a lot of work. All the sports should be congratulated for the work that they did to get back to competing. It was hard.

We have some advantages in NASCAR with our crews wearing built-in PPE and our drivers in their cars with their uniforms, head socks, helmets, and head-to-toe [protection]. We took advantage of that. Now we are growing as a sport, and we're stealing share which was intentional and was a stated goal.

On growing the fanbase and how partnerships can drive interest:

We understand that not everyone's going to be a fan of NASCAR. But exposing it through different partnerships is really important for us. We've been very deliberate about making sure that we are finding the right partnerships because we want to serve that potential fan wherever they are. If we [participate in] programs that are reaching different audiences then we're not going to grow. I think we have a foundation to grow the sport, but the partnerships are critical for us. We can't be all things to all people, but we can certainly be smart about how we're going to market or target specific segments of the population.

On NASCAR's upward trajectory since Phelps took over as president:

It's a different NASCAR than it was [when I became president]. We're at a period now where our share this year vs. 2019 [is] plus 20%. Our engagement numbers on digital and social are the highest that they've ever been. Sponsorship is coming back.

We had a tough go for a decade. If you'd said to me in 2018 that NASCAR was going to win League of the Year [at the 2021 Sports Business Awards], I wouldn't have taken that bet. We clawed back, and the sports community said we did it better and deserve to win. That felt fantastic for every person that works at NASCAR. And I'm not just talking about the sanctioning body where I work but [about] teams, drivers, auto manufacturers, our broadcast partners. They were all part of the growth to bring NASCAR back. It's an exciting time.

On the upcoming debut of NASCAR's Next-Gen car in 2022:

It has been a long time coming. This car is a panacea for everything that is still ailing NASCAR. It's going to be great for the teams, great for our OEM partners, and, most important, it's going to be great for the fans. It will have all kinds of really cool innovation pieces and cameras in every car, which will be phenomenal. Innovation for us is important.

It debuts at the L.A. Coliseum, which is where we will have an exhibition event called the Busch Clash. We are not going to race around the Coliseum; we actually are going to pave a track inside, which is going to be really cool. It will be a week before the Super Bowl, which is also in L.A.

On innovative scheduling for the 2021 and 2022 seasons:

This year, we had the boldest schedule that we've had in 50 years, so we're going to build on that. All the venues that we went to for the first time this year, we will go back to next year. We added the Coliseum in L.A. and Worldwide Technology Raceway in St. Louis. In 2023, I don't know what the schedule is going to look like, but it won't look like 2022. We'll continue to innovate and we have to go to new markets.

In 2022, our Xfinity series is going to go to Portland, OR. We are underserved in the Pacific Northwest, so we are going to continue to showcase [NASCAR]. We have to go to different places. That's what we need to do to grow this sport. We need to make sure that fan experience is like none other. [We] need to have schedule variation and go to different parts of the country - or, frankly, internationally - to expose us to a new audience.

On NASCAR's esports efforts and the future of iRacing:

After we shut down, we partnered with iRacing and Fox [Sports], and iRacing created something called the NASCAR Pro Invitational. The five highest-rated esports [events] on television of all time are all NASCAR races. The country wanted to watch something that was not a rerun, and it was fun.

We have a young African-American kid named Roger Carruth, who is going to be a star at NASCAR, and he was the only one in his Drive for Diversity program that got his start in iRacing. Or you look at a guy like William Byron, who was in our playoffs; he started his career in iRacing. It's true sim racing. It's very cool, and it's very lifelike - so lifelike that you actually can go race and get into a car and be competitive. Ther
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/10/21/nascar-president-steve-phelps-s...
See more stories from svg

More from Sports Video Group

11/07/2025

Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks Adjusts Broadcast Booths for Rangers, Devils

Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...

11/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Clients' Needs With Scalable Cloud-Based Storage

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...

11/07/2025

2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transition to the Cloud

2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...

11/07/2025

A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP

A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff Friday, July 1...

11/07/2025

CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimbledon

CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...

11/07/2025

Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-Serrano 3 Card at MSG

Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...

10/07/2025

5G for All? What the DFL's Use of Easy5G, RefCam Could Mean for Events in the Future

5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...

10/07/2025

Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-15

Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...

10/07/2025

Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New Era

Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...

10/07/2025

Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions In-House

Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...

10/07/2025

FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First Production

FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...

10/07/2025

SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint Venture Targeting Local-Sports-Media Market

SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...

09/07/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, ViewLift Unveil Broadcast/Streaming Joint Venture as Regional Sports Market Transforms

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, ViewLift Unveil Broadcast/Streaming Joint Ven...

09/07/2025

SVG Europe Audio - State of Wireless Mics Forum: If We Lose the Spectrum, It's Going Back to the Boring Stuff

SVG Europe Audio State of Wireless Mics Forum: If we lose the spectrum, it...

09/07/2025

Tech Focus: Athlete Audio - Venues Provide Sound Just for the Players

Tech Focus: Athlete Audio - Venues Provide Sound Just for the Players From locker room to field of play, personalized systems help rev up the athletes By Dan D...

08/07/2025

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control Room Production Palace

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control...

08/07/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN's Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN&#...

08/07/2025

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an Eye to 2026 Men's World Cup

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an ...

08/07/2025

SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast

SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast NESN is following up the retrocast with a week-long celebration of the Green Monster By...

07/07/2025

1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distribution

1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distributi...

07/07/2025

Formula E: Host Broadcaster Aurora on Launching New AR Graphics at the Jakarta E-Prix

Tests and decisions: Formula E host broadcaster Aurora on launching new AR graph...

07/07/2025

Formula E: Using New AR Graphics for Storytelling at the Formula E Penultimate, Final E-Prix of the Season

Building tension: Using new AR graphics for storytelling at the Formula E penult...

07/07/2025

SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots

SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots An in-depth conversation with 49ers Laura Johnson, Ravens Jay O'Brien, Las Vegas R...

07/07/2025

Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's Rock Block' Development

Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's ...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Aurora's Matt Beal on Taking Up the Broadcast Reins Alongside the FIA

Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reins for World RX alongs...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Getting the Production Together With NEP Finland, Cloudbass Graphics

Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season pro...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Host Broadcaster Aurora Looks Ahead to This Weekend's Second Race of the Season in Hljes

Seat of its pants: Aurora boxes clever and looks ahead for the FIA as new host b...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport, Sunset+Vine Talk Coverage Plans, Distribution and Maintaining Momentum

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport and Sunset Vine talk coverage plans, ...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League Launches New Content Series to Support Teams, Players Over Summer of Football

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League launches new content series...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite Puts Fans, Players Front and Center With Title Sequence for ITV

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite puts fans and players front and centre with t...

02/07/2025

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down the Craft

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down t...

02/07/2025

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Production Plan

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Productio...

01/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Expansion in the U.S.

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Exp...

01/07/2025

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus Video Production

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus...

01/07/2025

Cherry On the Cake: Inside the Technical Production of the Tour de France 2025 with EMG / Gravity Media

Cherry on the cake: Inside the technical production of the Tour de France 2025 w...

01/07/2025

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins Fans

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, ...

01/07/2025

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone B...

27/06/2025

How Smarter Video Compression is Creating a Sustainable Future

How smarter compression is creating a sustainable future By Michael Burns Monday, June 23, 2025 - 14:13 Print This Story Live sport is especially vulnerab...

27/06/2025

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland By George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe Friday, June 27, 2025 - 8:00 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story ...

27/06/2025

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology Leaders from Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Phenix brea...

27/06/2025

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending Chicago Cubs

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending...

27/06/2025

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandemic Era

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandem...

26/06/2025

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for the Future of the RSN, Local Media Business

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for th...

26/06/2025

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Tech leaders from CineSys, Diversified, and Net Insight breaks down all flavors of cloud By Jason Dachman, ...

26/06/2025

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Generation of Sports TV Technicians

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Gener...

25/06/2025

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY Tackling the latest in college sports video: NIL, live production, virtual productio...

25/06/2025

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO Booths

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO B...

24/06/2025

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By M...