TALLADEGA, ALABAMA – APRIL 24: Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 DeWalt Toyota, leads the field to … [+]
In a continuation of its move towards gaming, NASCAR has added another gaming partner to its official lineup. Thursday the league announced that PrizePicks will become an official fantasy sports partner.
The news comes on the heels of the announcement earlier this season of a partnership with Powerball as the “Official Lottery Game of NASCAR.”
While gambling has only gained in popularity in the sport in the last few years, fantasy racing has been around NASCAR since the 1980s. It exploded in popularity as the internet grew and NASCAR did with it.
Fans can not only choose who will win the race, or the top finishers, but with the new platform can now try their skill on driver projections such as Fantasy Score, NASCAR Points, Fastest Laps, Laps Led, Cars Passed and Starting Position. PrizePicks added NASCAR in 2021 and said they have seen a 400 percent leap in activity over the last 12 months.
“We’ve always taken great pride in the fact that a great deal of our marketing and partnerships remain true to our southern roots,” said PrizePicks co-founder & CEO Adam Wexler, whose company has also partnered with the Atlanta Falcons and Miami Marlins in recent years. “Working with NASCAR is the best of all worlds, an organization based in the South with a national footprint that is consistently growing on our platform.”
Today fantasy racing has been embraced by NASCAR and its TV partners. It’s yet another avenue the sport uses to attract and engage its fans. And that work has paid off as NASCAR consistently ranks as a top-two sport of the weekend on television. So far in 2023, NASCAR’s Digital Platform has been visited 65 million times – a seven percent year-over-year increase.
NASCAR offers a portion of its official web site to fantasy racing and several social media sites are devoted to fantasy racing picks each week.
Fox Sports runs a hybrid fantasy racing promotion, Fox’s NASCAR Stage 2 contest, during its broadcast that allows fans to enter to win based on predictions that if guessed correctly gives fans a chance to win cash prizes.
Launched in 2018 and headquartered in Atlanta, PrizePicks is not a gambling site. Players don’t place a bet, rather they pay a fee to enter the different contests on an app or on the website. It was named the fastest growing sports company in America in 2022 with 250 employees and was named a Top Workplace by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It has deals with the PGA, in the NBA, MLS and in the NFL.
The partnership will give PrizePicks a VIP presence at several events throughout 2023 as NASCAR celebrates its 75th season, starting with the NASCAR Cup Series Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway this coming Sunday. Other races will be announced later in the season.
“PrizePicks has consistently shown itself to be a fantasy platform with a loyal fanbase and wide variety of sports offerings,” said Joe Solosky, NASCAR managing director, sports betting. “This partnership is an opportunity for both organizations to expand and increase engagement with new and existing fans.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregengle/2023/04/20/nascar-signs-new-official-fantasy-sports-partner/