Tag Archives: nascar

CELSIUS Partners With Female NASCAR Driver Logan Misuraca for 2023 ARCA Menards Series

Logan Misuraca announces she will be racing in the 2023 ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 63 Spraker/PCW Racing CELSIUS Essential Energy Chevrolet at superspeedways Daytona and Talladega.

Misuraca attended the Preseason ARCA Test at Daytona International Speedway January 13-14th. During the season, the Ilmor engine Chevrolet will be sponsored by CELSIUS Essential Energy Drink while embodying the brand’s mantra, “Live Fit”, staying energized all race weekend long.

Speaking on the sponsorship, CELSIUS VP of Marketing, Kyle Watson, added, “CELSIUS is thrilled to be the primary sponsor and Official Energy Drink of Logan Misuraca? for the 2023 ARCA Menards Series season. We are excited to sponsor our first female driver in motorsports and help fuel Logan all season long as she crosses the finish line!”

CELSIUS is functional, Essential Energy, a better-for-you, premium alternative to traditional energy drinks. Made with a clinically proven formula of energy boosting ingredients, 7 Essential Vitamins and zero sugar, CELSIUS was created to help people LIVE FIT, exceed their goals, and elevate their everyday lives.

Logan’s first ARCA race of the year will take place at Daytona International Speedway on February 18th at 1:30 PM EST. Additionally, she will be racing the Talladega Superspeedway ARCA Race on April 22nd. Both races will be broadcasted on FS1.

Logan holds many accomplishments in her home state of Florida including New Smyrna Speedway 2020 ‘Champion’ and ‘Rookie of the Year’ in the pro late model series and atop 10 finish in the 2022 ARCA East Race at NSS.

Logan is very experienced with both superspeedways through her work with NASCAR Racing Experience where she gives ride-alongs to race fans and adrenaline seekers at speeds over 170 mph. Logan has recorded more than 20,000 laps at Daytona International Speedway. Spraker Racing has over 30 years of racing experience and has had major successes in the ARCA series with record making top 5 and top 10 finishes over the years. The team and Logan are looking forward to an exciting 2023 ARCA season.

NASCAR Announces Partnership With RealResponse

NASCAR and RealResponse, the award-winning reporting platform for athletic teams and organizations, today announced a partnership that provides NASCAR and national series industry members with a safe and anonymous tool to secure feedback, report concerns and seek assistance from professionals in countless areas of expertise.

RealResponse is the industry leader in providing a platform for safe and secure feedback, monitoring and anonymous reporting. The partnership will provide any NASCAR national series team member with the ability to confidentially reach out to express concerns or report issues via a customized communication tool. NASCAR personnel receive the encrypted and anonymous messages directly and designate a subject matter expert to respond immediately to the concern.

Concerns can range from competition-based items such as gambling or integrity, safety and security, abuse or harassment, or for seeking mental health support. The identity of the industry member reaching out is protected through the RealResponse reporting program, ensuring anonymity. 

“NASCAR wanted to be proactive in providing a tool for industry members such as drivers, crew and other team personnel to safely reach out for help,” said Meghan Miley, Managing Director of Racing Operations for NASCAR. “In partnering with RealResponse, we now have a confidential method for reporting. We don’t have a limit to the types of reports industry members can submit, and we can ensure their privacy as they reach out for anonymous support at any time.”

RealResponse was launched in 2016 by former NCAA Division I student-athlete David Chadwick, who saw a need for athletes to have a safe and confidential way to bring feedback to their athletic administration. Today, numerous sport governing bodies, organizations and teams such MLB, the NFLPA and NFL teams, USA Swimming and other Olympic organizations, the National Women’s Soccer League, and a multitude of colleges and universities work with RealResponse to provide the same service.

“We are honored to engage in this historic partnership with NASCAR,” said David Chadwick, Founder and CEO of RealResponse. “NASCAR executives recognize the responsibility to make the sport of racing safer, more inclusive and more valuable in the eyes every stakeholder involved in the sport. Their embrace of RealResponse sends a clear message that the health and safety of its community members away from the track is as important as safety of drivers on race day.”

The program was introduced to the NASCAR national series teams in October.

Brett Frood Named Commissioner of National Lacrosse League

The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the top professional indoor lacrosse league in North America, today named Brett Frood as Commissioner. Frood joins the NLL from Stewart-Haas Racing, where he has served as President of the NASCAR team since its inception in 2008, leading all business initiatives for the championship-winning organization co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart and industrialist Gene Haas. Frood, who will begin his new role on September 1, becomes just the fifth Commissioner for the NLL since its relaunch in 1997. CAA Executive Search assisted the NLL Board of Governors in the search process.

“Brett Frood has known success at every turn of his career, from playing lacrosse at a championship level at Brown to building out one of the most successful properties in sports at Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Matt Hutchings, COO and EVP at Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, owner of the NLL Champion Colorado Mammoth, speaking as Chairman of the NLL Board of Governors. “That combination is both unique and perfect to lead the National Lacrosse League in the accelerated growth period that we are currently in and will now continue and expand under his leadership.”

“I am humbled and energized to be able to work alongside a group of motivated and sophisticated owners and organizations to continue to cultivate the best product in professional sports,” Frood explained. “The NLL provides such a unique opportunity to marry my professional and personal passions and grow enterprise value amongst all its constituents.”

“We conducted a thorough search process and spent time with an extremely deep pool of candidates from multiple areas of our industry,” said Erik Baker, Board member of New York Riptide owner GF Sports and Entertainment, and Jamie Dawick, owner of the Toronto Rock, co-chairs of the search committee of the NLL Board of Governors. “Brett is everything we were looking for. He brings an amazing track record of business success, a passion and deep understanding of lacrosse and a clear vision of where we want to go as a league. He will be the perfect leader for the NLL and a welcome difference maker in taking the sport of lacrosse to the next level.”

A native of Elbridge, N.Y., Frood played lacrosse at his undergraduate alma mater, Brown University, where he was a multi-year starter, team captain, Final Four member, and two-time Ivy League Champion at Attack/Midfield for the Bears. He also led the team in scoring his senior season.

Frood joined Stewart, the championship-winning INDYCAR and NASCAR driver, 18 years ago after graduating from Harvard Business School to manage and expand all of Stewart’s business interests, including, but not limited to, Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, Tony Stewart Racing, The Tony Stewart Foundation, the introduction of Tony Stewart’s Original food line, the All-Star Circuit of Champions, and the 2021 launch of Superstar Racing Experience, a primetime racing series airing on CBS.

As President of Stewart-Haas Racing, Frood managed all aspects of the racing and commercial operations of the $100M+ enterprise that won two NASCAR Cup Series championships (2011 and 2014) and a NASCAR Xfinity Series title (2018) while totaling more than 90 victories. During his tenure at Stewart-Haas Racing, Frood led an organization with 350 employees and negotiated over $600 million in corporate partnerships. He also represented Stewart-Haas Racing on the Race Team Alliance, an organization consisting of all NASCAR Cup Series teams with the goal of promoting, marketing and expanding commercial opportunities of the teams and drivers as well as working with NASCAR in the collective growth of the industry.

Prior to business school, Frood worked in equity capital markets on Wall Street and pursued entrepreneurial interests in Europe before enrolling at Harvard Business School. During his time at business school, he was the Co-President of the Business of Sports Club and a marketing intern for the New York City Olympic Organizing Committee, which attempted to bring the 2012 Summer Olympic Games to New York, in 2003.

Brett has continued his involvement in lacrosse, where he has been a youth lacrosse coach since 2010, while also coaching the Cannon School Varsity team, the 2022 NCISAA Division I State Champion in North Carolina. He is also the Head Coach and College Recruiting Director for the Carolina Miner’s 2024 Boys Elite Team.

Frood was a 2012 Forty Under 40 honoree by The Sports Business Journal, and currently lives in Davidson, N.C., with his wife Robin, and their children, Cole, Quinn and Charlotte.

Triller Enters NASCAR Space With Partnership With Rising Star Toni Breidinger

Triller, the globally popular AI-powered social media experience, today announced its entry into NASCAR with a partnership with driver Toni Breidinger, the 22-year-old rookie driver who has made history as the first Arab-American female driver in the circuit’s history. The partnership will begin this Saturday with the ARCA Menards Series race at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana. Breidinger will be driving the #25 Triller Toyota Camry after recently switching to Venturini Motorsports, a Toyota Racing Development team, for the remainder of the 2021 season. Breidinger, who already has one of the largest social followings for any NASCAR driver, will fully document her racing experience on Triller and will have her car wrapped with Triller signage this weekend. She is the all-time winningest female in United States Auto Club (USAC) history with 19 wins, a record that helped her move into NASCAR’s ARCA Menards series this year.

“Toni Breidinger is the perfect fit for our entry into NASCAR and all forms of racing for Triller,” said Bobby Sarnevesht, Chairman and Co-Owner of Triller. “She is a disruptive, smart, highly competitive, socially conscious and engaged athlete who our millions of followers are just starting to learn about. We look forward to helping to elevate her story and her platform and to connecting her with the stars who are already deeply involved in Triller, as well as giving our followers a first look into NASCAR and helping to grow the sport with a younger and very engaged and loyal audience.”

Toni Breidinger

“As a young athlete who has diverse interests and wants to have young people get excited about the sport I love, racing, Triller is the perfect place for me,” Breidinger said. “The mix of engaged socially conscious young people from around the world is the audience I want to connect with, and I think as we grow together all will learn, have fun and experience new events together. I am thankful for this partnership with Triller and for them to believe in female athletes and especially in motorsports.”

In February, Breidinger made history as NASCAR’s first Arab-American female driver, when she raced in the ARCA Menards Series at the Daytona International Speedway, finishing in 18th place out of 33 — ahead of the two other women who competed, and earning her an appearance on “Ellen.” She is one of 10 females competing across NASCAR races this season.

The partnership will begin with the ARCA Menards Race at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana, and will continue for all five of her races this season: August 22 at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield Illinois; September 5 at the DuQuoin State Fair in DuQuoin, Illinois; October 23rd at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, KS; and November 6th at Phoenix Speedway in Phoenix, AZ. Toni currently races in the ARCA Menards Series, a feeder division into the Nascar Touring Series. In 2021, Toni placed 18th at Daytona, 12th at Talladega, 12th at Kansas, and 20th at Charlotte.

This is the latest part of a progressive strategy that Triller is going to extend into sports. In addition to the highly successful Triller Fight Club series, which continues with the first of a long series of Tuesday night fights at Madison Square Garden and will also feature the September 11 matchup between Oscar de La Hoya and Vitor Belfort at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Triller is an exclusive broadcast partner of the BIG3, the official creator of the new global sport, FIREBALL3, and purchased premium entertainment and sports channel FITE earlier in the year. The platform continues to also engage in large scale promotions marrying sports and entertainment, including hosting the cast of Space Jam 2 at Triller House in LA prior to the premiere of the film starring LeBron James, Don Cheadle and other NBA and WNBA stars.

Triller will have additional announcements about new partnerships in all areas of global sport in the coming weeks.

Start Your Engines! PlaySugarHouse.com In New Jersey Is Taking Bets On Virtual NASCAR Races

PlaySugarHouse.com is among the first sportsbooks in the U.S. to drop the flag on virtual NASCAR races. The sportsbook has been approved by New Jersey regulators to offer betting on the 2020 eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series. New Jersey players will now be able to place bets on a virtual auto race and the first race in the series they can bet on is the Toyota Owners 400 in Richmond on April 19.

The Cup Series races are as realistic as can be, featuring real stars of past and present including Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. The series of races, which started March 22, are being broadcast on FOX Sports during typical NASCAR broadcast times and have been huge hits drawing over a million viewers to the fierce iRacing competition.

“We are happy to be able to offer such an exciting and competitive entertainment event,” said Mattias Stetz, C.O.O of Rush Street Interactive, which operates PlaySugarHouse.com. “It’s also fun to see how these talented drivers will compare in the virtual world of competitive racing.”

The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series is offering exclusive entertainment on the premier motorsports racing simulation; the same one used for years by NASCAR’s biggest stars to prepare for real world race events. This form of virtual sports is different than others because the simulator offers a full NASCAR experience down to the dynamics of the car and the real-life differences between track surfaces being raced on. Ultimately, the eNASCAR iRacing Series offers a competitive edge that traditional console videogames just can’t match.

The virtual racing schedule is designed to follow the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, which had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with the Toyota Owners 400, the virtual NASCAR series includes the Geico 500 at Talledega and the Cup Series race at Dover and looks to make virtual stops at fan-favorite tracks from coast to coast.

NASCAR, Genius Sports Form Landmark Exclusive Betting Data Partnership

NASCAR and Genius Sports, the global leader in sports data solutions, today announced a landmark deal that will see Genius Sports develop an official NASCAR gaming offering for legal sportsbooks. The new agreement is the first step toward creating an advanced live betting product that will drive fan interest and deepen engagement around NASCAR race events.

Genius Sports will utilize NASCAR’s official data feed to build a high-end live betting product to be sold to legal sportsbooks around the world. Exclusive access to NASCAR’s official data allows Genius Sports to create a real-time gaming platform that provides up-to-the-minute odds and a suite of traditional wagers and prop bets. The new initiative will enhance the race day experience and keep fans engaged with the sport for longer periods of time.

“Partnering with Genius Sports allows us to deliver a dynamic fan engagement platform in the rapidly-growing world of legalized sports gaming,” said Brian Herbst, senior vice president, broadcasting and innovation, NASCAR. “This new relationship will provide another entry point to the sport and complements our strategy to create a more immersive experience for fans.”

As a result of the agreement, Genius Sports becomes the exclusive provider of NASCAR data to licensed sportsbooks. The new data partnership marks NASCAR’s first in the growing U.S. sports betting sector.

“NASCAR fans are some of the most devoted in the world, and we look forward to helping them to create a deeper, more connected experience that is both safe and secure as the business of sports betting continues to evolve in the U.S.,” said Mark Locke, Genius Sports CEO. “Furthermore, our global relationships will help bring the excitement of NASCAR racing to new audiences both within the United States and in new territories around the world.”

With 40 cars on the track reaching speeds of over 200 miles per hour, NASCAR’s official data is vital to the development of a gaming platform. Only licensed sportsbooks in regulated territories will have access to the official data, providing greater transparency, accuracy, and cooperation to monitor and safeguard NASCAR events.

Before the start of the 2019 season, NASCAR developed a comprehensive Sports Gambling policy for the industry in which the sanctioning body granted all teams and tracks the ability to sell marketing sponsorships to sports-betting companies and licensed sportsbooks.

NASCAR Officially Along For The Pay Fantasy Ride

NASCAR Officially Along For The Pay Fantasy Ride

There have been fantasy games set up around NASCAR for years with little to no success. The thought was always that with such passionate and engaged fans, a regular schedule and tons of data that the sport was a natural fit for fantasy. However individual sports were slow to gain traction in traditional fantasy, but all that has changed since the pay model has come into vogue.

Golf officials see pay fantasy as a way to engage a younger audience, and while tennis officials still worry about “gambling” and the fact that their game is more global, where fantasy has not yet caught on, there remains more interest there as well. Now it looks like NASCAR is in whole hog, announcing an official deal with DraftKings on Thursday.

Through the three-year agreement, DraftKings will have an exclusive license to develop NASCAR-branded games across the daily fantasy sports category. According to the release, DraftKings will have access to a direct data feed from NASCAR Digital Media that contains real-time statistics which will create all kinds of gaming opportunities for fans watching live on any device, and perhaps most importantly, at the track.

“Pursuing ways to connect with our fans on a daily basis while enhancing their viewing experience has been paramount to NASCAR, and fantasy sports is a core tenet of that strategy,” said Steve Phelps, NASCAR executive vice president and chief marketing officer in a release. “We are committed to growing our fan base, increasing engagement and diversifying our audience and partnering with DraftKings will strongly support all of these efforts.”

It will work this way. In each game, participants are assigned a fixed salary cap they can use to draft their entire roster, comprised of five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers. Scoring categories in DraftKings NASCAR daily fantasy sports games will include finishing position, fastest laps, laps led, position differential and passing differential. NASCAR games on DraftKings will provide fans the opportunity to win one-of-a-kind NASCAR prizes and VIP experiences. DraftKings will offer two different types of NASCAR-themed games – a free game for casual players and paid games for avid followers of the sport.

The success of pay fantasy in NASCAR will not be overnight, as like every sport adapting to the culture will be key. There is no certain way to know how much illegal gambling goes on in and around races, although casual bets are known to take place around every track. What is certain is that NASCAR has a very engaged fan base which is very brand loyal, and if that translates into pay fantasy, DraftKings may be racing towards the checkered flag in yet another sport.