Nascar’s Oldest Superspeedway Uses Newest Marketing To Keep The Stands Full

Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, built in 1949 and which hosted its first NASCSC
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R race in 1950, is an oddly egg-shaped oval tucked away not far from Coastal South Carolina halfway between NASCAR’s hub Charlotte, North Carolina and the beach vacation destination of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

It seemed to be teetering on the edge of extinction less than two decades ago after NASCAR took away one of its two races, including its storied Labor Day weekend event. It then moved the track’s lone date to Mother’s Day, traditionally in NASCAR a date that was avoided, and one where many races seemed to go to die.

The “Track too tough to tame,” called such because of its challenges to drivers, fought back and thanks to lights installed in 2004, ran that lone race under those lights for the first time. The track shined, both literally and figuratively, and after a repaving in 2007 and further upgrades to the facility in 2008 has become a staple on the circuit once again.

The track hasn’t rested on its laurels, however. In 2014 Darlington was given its second date back and the Labor Day race was returned. There are now few places a diehard NASCAR fan would rather be than at Darlington Raceway on Labor Day weekend.

Defying the traditional model that says everything must be ‘new’ and ‘improved’, the track embraced its history. They marketed and held the first “Throwback” weekend in the fall of 2015. Since then, the Labor Day “Throwback” weekend at Darlington has been embraced by fans and the industry alike. Sponsors even get in on the act with paint schemes on the racecars that pay homage to past racers, while fans, drivers, and most of the rest of NASCAR wearing vintage style clothing and gear.

Since 2016 Darlington has been run by track president Kerry Tharp. Known affectionally in the industry simply as “The Commander” Tharp spent many years working in college sports, including two decades as the associate director for media relations at the University of South Carolina, before moving to the NASCAR executive team in a communications role in 2005.A big part of Darlington’s revival has been under Tharp’s leadership.

And while the track embraces its past, it always has an eye towards the future finding new and innovative ways to keep the seats filled, and fans happy.

It should be no surprise then that NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway recently became the first NASCAR owned track to jump aboard the newest sponsorship model in sports.

Name Image Likeness agreements, commonly called “NILs” in college sports is still a very recent concept. The NCAA officially made it legal for college athletes to profit off their NILs in July of 2021. Until legislation is passed at the federal level, it’s up to the States to enact laws that allow student athletes to profit off endorsements. Most have, South Carolina is one, and Darlington Raceway wasted little time in taking advantage of it.

Darlington recently became the first NASCAR owned track to sign an NIL deal with a college athlete announcing the signing of Grayson McCall a starting quarterback at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC, about 70 miles from Darlington.

“I knew of Grayson,” Tharp said. “I’m obviously a big college sports fan and follow the sport and you know, what he’s done over at Coastal the past couple years has been pretty phenomenal, leading them to national prominence and on national TV and that type of thing.

“So, he’s very popular here in this region.”

“It’s kind of one of those programs that’s under the radar and that type of thing,” Tharp added. “But they made some noise on the national level last couple years.”

He’s popular in the region for good reasons: the last two seasons, McCall has led Coastal Carolina to a 20-2 record including the school’s first Sun Belt Conference championship, first bowl game, first bowl win, and the first time in the AP/Coaches Polls and entering the College Football Playoff rankings.

Coming into the college season, McCall is on the verge of breaking every offensive record in school history and cementing his legacy as the most decorated player in Coastal Carolina history. He is one of the top five quarterbacks in the collegiate ranks and projected to be a high NFL draft pick. McCall has raised the elevation of the college’s program and shows no signs of slowing down.

As he continues his rise in the sport of football, McCall said that the opportunity to create a steady stream of income is important, but not necessarily the most important part of an NIL deal.

“I think the more important thing of it is just creating a brand for yourself and continuing to build that brand,” he said. “You know, obviously it would be huge for me if I continue to play at the next level and things like that.

“But, you know, more importantly for me, it’s just about me building my brand.”

And a big part of building that brand is the NIL deal with Darlington, which came about through McCall’s management company Everett Sports Marketing (ESM) in Greenville, SC.

“ESM started working with Grayson in fall of last year,” Jeff Hoffman, partner, athlete strategy with ESM said. “One of our first observations was his audience reach into nontraditional sports. It presented a big opportunity with the right partner. As the spring turned our team at ESM identified a number of partnerships we felt would align with Grayson’s geography and influence. NASCAR and specifically Darlington Raceway were at the top of that list for contact.

“We reached out to Kerry Tharp directly in June. Shortly thereafter Kerry and I discussed what a potential Grayson partnership would look like and the cross-over potential for his track’s audience, a college football audience and Grayson’s audience. The data and the instincts pointed to it being more than a viable opportunity but one that would net returns for the track in terms of visibility and introduction to a new audience for Grayson via NASCAR.”

Tharp said that at first the track took their time and did their due diligence.

“Obviously we’ve never entered into any kind of a relationship like this before,” Tharp said. “I did a lot of homework on it. I got our marketing team involved; our social team involved.

“Our media team really did a good analysis of what exactly we could possibly do with Grayson. And you know, the more we looked at it, the more I think it interested us because it’s certainly not, your traditional marketing slash advertising plate, right?”

Once the agreements were signed and the deal made, Grayson came to Darlington to meet with Tharp, the track staff, and spend a day at the historic facility with NASCAR driver Ty Dillon. It was meeting McCall that day, that really sealed the deal for The Commander.

“I’ve worked in college sports, as you well know for about 26 years,” Tharp said. “Been around, been around goodness gracious, I would probably have to say thousands of young athletes, male, and female. And you can tell when somebody gets it.

“What I mean by that is somebody that has the wherewithal to understand that, obviously playing the sport is paramount, but there’s other things that go along with it. And he gets it he, he really does.

“He’s, I think, really a class act young person; I can see why he has been successful on the football field. I say he’s got leadership skills and he’s got a little bit of an edginess about him.”

For McCall that visit to Darlington was a first for him.

“I’m from Charlotte,” McCall said. “So the Darlington Raceway is kind of like a midpoint for me on my way to school…all the time driving to, and from school I’m always passing the racetrack and things like that. And actually, never been there.”

Despite being a Charlotte resident, McCall admits he wasn’t really a NASCAR or motorsports, fan. But a visit to this year’s Formula 1 race in Miami grew his interest. He had told ESM that he wanted to support businesses local to the school. With its halfway point from Charlotte, and being local to the University, Darlington Raceway was the perfect choice for McCall’s first NIL deal.

One of the biggest advantages of the deal for McCall is the opportunity to build his brand among an entirely new group of fans.

“It’s like a whole other spectrum of fans,” he said. “And for me to be able to push my brand out to, quote unquote, a whole new spectrum of fans, I think that’s huge.

“Obviously, the football stage and things like that it gets pushed out a lot. But like I said, it’s a whole new group of fans; I think that’s huge for my brand to continue to push that out.”

Over the coming months, Darlington will use McCall in its marketing including social media, email marketing, other creatives. Tharp said they have started to execute that plan and are already seeing positive results simply off the announcement of the signing.

“I just think the media impressions, media exposure, that we’ve gotten has been pretty spectacular about this,” Tharp said.

For McCall his plan started on his recent visit, his first, to the track “Too tough to tame” that included a ride with Dillon around the track in a pace car.

“I’m learning more about NASCAR and becoming more interested in it,” he said. “Me and Ty Dillon got to ride around and I kind of just got to pick his brain a little bit about his preparation and what all goes into what he does.

“It definitely intrigued me. I definitely enjoyed my time out there and I can’t wait to get back.”

NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway is now 73 years old. Yet, it is still as relevant now as it was when the first race was held there in 1950. Much of that relevancy has to do with the track’s ability to adapt to the times, and market itself in ways not heard of before. There is a management culture that embraces change and keeps Darlington Raceway a diamond in NASCAR’s crown. And keeps fans coming back year after year to watch drivers battle with the track “Too tough too tame.”

“The sport has evolved and how you reach your fans has evolved and it’s different than it was even five or 10 years ago,” Tharp said. “I think things have changed. There’s been an evolution of how you reach your fans. I think that the fan experience has really risen in importance at NASCAR. I think our fan base is still very loyal, but I think it’s also kind of ever changing. And you know, I think sometimes you got to try new things, and this certainly was something new.”

For NCAA athletes and their marketing companies, NASCAR presents a new opportunity to reach new fans via NIL deals. And Grayson McCall through ESM will be able to claim his as the first.

“It’s a match made in Darlington, Conway heaven,” said Jeff Hoffman.