Exclusive: NASCAR launches on Substack

Zoom in: The newsletter, debuting just ahead of NASCAR's 2025 playoffs, will be written by NASCAR's in-house editorial team and will feature stories and content that help readers experience the culture that drives the sport, per Clark.

• For now, NASCAR will launch with one newsletter that will publish two to three times per week. It will be available to subscribers for free, but the league may consider adding a paywall in the future.
• The tone of the newsletter is meant to be more lighthearted and entertaining, highlighting stories about the players behind the scenes, rather than a rehashing of what happened that day on the racetrack.
• NASCAR will rely on its existing customer email lists and its social media following, as well as Substack's recommendation engine, to market to new subscribers.
• While the newsletter isn't meant to drive revenue, Clark said the league could one day consider selling sponsorships within the email.

Zoom out: The newsletter is part of a broader new media push by NASCAR to lure younger audiences.

• NASCAR was the first major sports league to launch a Discord channel in 2021.
• It recently invested more than $50 million in a new studio production facility outside Charlotte, North Carolina.
• It has created three original streaming features, "Full Speed" on Netflix, and "Earnhardt" and "American Thunder: NASCAR to Le Mans" on Amazon.

Between the lines: Gaming has also become a bigger focus for the league as it looks to draw younger audiences to the sport.

• It teamed with Roblox developer Voldex to create a Roblox racing game, Driving Empire, earlier this year. It will launch a new NASCAR 25 console video game partnership with iRacing in October.

Follow the money: NASCAR's digital push comes amid a historic seven-year $7.7 billion TV rights agreement that will see its 38 live races broadcast across more channels than ever before.

• The deal makes NASCAR's live events available across broadcast on Fox and NBC, cable on Warner Bros. Discovery's TNT Sports and Amazon beginning this season.

• Clark said for the races on Amazon, the average age of viewership for a NASCAR event has come down six years in a span of five weeks.

The big picture: The blockbuster success of "Formula 1: Drive to Survive" on Netflix has pushed other sports leagues to reimagine their digital content strategies.

• Clark said he has a lot of respect for what F1 has been doing over the last couple of years "to meet the moment," but he also feels good about NASCAR's "slow burn" content strategy.
• "It's less home run swings, and more getting runners on base," he said.

What to watch: In recent years, NASCAR has tried to lean more heavily into its "authentically Americana" brand identity, as Clark puts it, rather than try to be everything to everyone. The new Substack push reflects that effort.

• "There's probably been times in the last five to 10 years that we've tried to be all things to all people, but that's not who we are," Clark said. Now, he notes, "we are leaning into a huge camping culture, a huge tailgate culture, and a great experience at the racetrack. That's who we are."

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Tim Clark is the chief brand officer at NASCAR (not chief digital officer).