NASCAR is undoubtedly probably the most widespread sports activities in America, with traditions that span a long time and generations of followers throughout the nation. Nevertheless, in an period the place all sports activities are searching for new and revolutionary methods to attach with followers, NASCAR has lagged behind leagues just like the NFL and NBA by way of social media presence and cultural relevance.
NASCAR’s protection has typically drifted out and in of the broader sports activities dialog. Nonetheless, in recent times, the game can generally really feel distant to youthful followers or informal followers resulting from an absence of accessible storytelling. That is the place the decade-old multi-sports web site EssentiallySports is available in.
Wanting on the NASCAR digital footprint, the difficulty grew to become clear. Whereas there have been passionate and sturdy discussions in regards to the sport across the digital media world, the dialog was scattered, with no central hub for followers to congregate.
“In NASCAR, the followers are nonetheless the heartbeat,” EssentiallySports co-founder Suryansh Tibarewal instructed ClutchPoints. “However the digital media round it wasn’t giving them what they deserved. It was both transactional, like stats and recaps. We needed one thing in between that’s fan-first, genuine, and rooted within the tales behind the drivers.”
EssentiallySports is thought for constructing engaged sports activities communities throughout fandoms, which is how Fortunate Canine on Observe got here to be in early 2024.
“When my fellow co-founder Jaskirat got here up with the identify Fortunate Canine on Observe, it simply clicked,” Tibarewal mentioned. “In NASCAR, the ‘Fortunate Canine’ is the driving force who will get an opportunity to rejoin the lead pack from the top, and we felt that’s the place the game was digitally. NASCAR has all the time had coronary heart and historical past, nevertheless it deserved a comeback second within the fashionable sports activities dialog. We needed to be a part of that journey.”
The concept the NASCAR neighborhood was hungry for a platform like Fortunate Canine on Observe was rapidly confirmed, because the small digital sub-brand exploded right into a full-fledged e-newsletter that now reaches greater than 250,000 subscribers. Curating spotlight clips, nostalgia-laced throwbacks, and driver-focused tales on social media, the e-newsletter was one thing that NASCAR followers instantly felt part of.
Specializing in neighborhood and dialog, every difficulty contains polls, light-hearted reader feedback, and even mini-surveys on what readers need coated subsequent. The group tracks sentiment utilizing NPS and fan feedback and infrequently builds content material round what followers reply to most.
“We observed followers have been studying and even replying,” Tibarewal mentioned. “Each week we’d see messages from followers saying, ‘That is what NASCAR ought to really feel like once more.’ It was validation that we have been doing one thing proper.”
That validation continued in late 2025, when NASCAR.com launched its personal official e-newsletter on Substack. It’s an indication that the broader trade was starting to acknowledge the worth of direct fan communication. When instructed in regards to the launch, Tibarewal mentioned, “It’s an excellent factor. It exhibits the game is evolving. However for us, the aim was by no means simply to construct a e-newsletter. It was to remind followers why they fell in love with NASCAR within the first place.”
Picture Credit score: EssentiallySports
And that is likely one of the greatest issues that units Fortunate Canine on Observe aside. It’s greater than only a digital e-newsletter. The folks behind the model perceive that, as essential as constructing a digital neighborhood is, it’ll by no means exchange the expertise of a reside NASCAR occasion.
“We all the time say that NASCAR fandom lives each within the grandstands and within the group chats,” Tibarewal defined.
That is why, in 2024, the model appeared on an Xfinity Collection automobile pushed by Mason Massey at Pocono Raceway, in partnership with Actual American Beer. A yr later, it partnered with Michael Waltrip Brewing Firm for an on-ground fan activation in Bristol. These have been a part of an effort to blur the road between digital engagement and the bodily fan expertise.
Now, because the 2025 season heads towards its Championship race on November 2, Fortunate Canine on Observe continues to develop with plans to maintain publishing even after the champion is topped. That is as a result of, as Tibarewal aptly says, “Fandom by no means actually has an offseason.”
