Last season, NASCAR introduced a new “competition” for its Cup Series stars — the Driver Ambassador Program (DAP). As it turns out, this prompted them to get involved in a major way while traveling the country to make appearances.
The DAP provided financial incentives to drivers to promote the sport. Every time the drivers did non-mandatory interviews with media members, appearances on TV shows/podcasts, or created their own submissions, they earned points on the leaderboard. These had to be at least 15-minute chunks.
NASCAR then took these points and named a winner for the first term of the season and a winner for the second term of the season. Every driver who participated in the program earned money on a descending scale from first place in each term to last place.
According to NASCAR, drivers completed more than 5,500 media opportunities and more than 3,200 track requests. They contributed 6,300 hours to the DAP while helping NASCAR see a 17% increase in mentions between Jan. 1 and Nov. 9.
NASCAR says that these drivers earned more than 800,000 followers on social media, marking a 4.5% increase since January.
Joey Logano took advantage of the DAP. He regularly appeared on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, participated in the ESPY Awards while being nominated in the best driver category, and stopped by Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show. As a result, Logano won the first term of the DAP program before finishing runner-up in the second term.
“The program has been an immensely positive addition to the industry this year and has made a big impact for the drivers and fans alike,” Logano said in a press release.
“The drivers are the most fan-facing figures of the sport, and the product of this program has seen us go directly to the fans in both new and existing markets for NASCAR. It puts our industry in a position to go on offense in seeking new opportunities throughout the year which is beneficial for us as a whole.”
The other drivers who filled out the top five on the leaderboard in the first term were Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, and Daniel Suarez. Larson, in particular, appeared on the “Games With Names” podcast, “The Tonight Show,” and “The Pat McAfee Show.”
The top five drivers in the second term of the DAP program included winner Ross Chastain, Logano, Suarez, Christopher Bell, and Kyle Busch. The two-time Cup Series champion also made appearances on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“One of the ways we thought we’d be addressing driver star power in making greater stars of our drivers is through a program that initially came out of the driver advisory group, driver advisory council, and that was the Driver Ambassador Program,” NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps said during championship weekend.
“If you think of the number of appearances that have happened, the sheer number of hours that the drivers have logged promoting this sport, 6,000 hours, up 40% year over year. That is huge for us, right? They’re building our brands. They are the face of NASCAR. The more opportunities we give to them, the more opportunities they step up and take, the better it is for the growth of this sport.
“We are only going to be as good as what we can provide to the drivers and the access that we provide the drivers to get in front of. Whether that’s early morning shows, late night shows, ‘Sesame Street’ — I know Bubba did that earlier this year — all these things are opportunities to meet a fan or a potential fan where they are. That’s what we need to do.”
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