Spotlight on Our Partners: Meet NASCAR
The roar of engines, the thrill of the race, and the ever-evolving digital frontier—NASCAR is blending tradition with innovation to redefine the fan experience. At the forefront of this transformation is Wyatt Hicks, Vice President of Digital at NASCAR, who oversees the platforms, products, and strategies that connect fans to the heart of the sport. From live leaderboards to groundbreaking digital rewards systems, Wyatt’s team is crafting experiences that enhance how fans engage with the action on and off the track.
In our in-depth conversation, Wyatt discusses the challenges and triumphs of his 12-year journey with NASCAR. He shares how the organization balances honoring its storied past—such as reviving historic tracks like North Wilkesboro with breaking new ground by hosting races at the LA Coliseum or in downtown Chicago. This dual approach has allowed NASCAR to engage both lifelong fans and a new generation who are discovering the sport through digital platforms.
Wyatt also provides a glimpse into NASCAR’s forward-thinking initiatives, including leveraging AI to create data-rich fan experiences, expanding in-venue sports betting opportunities, and tapping into the eSports world with virtual racing. As he notes, some competitors in the iRacing community have transitioned to actual NASCAR racing—a unique pipeline that exemplifies the synergy between the digital and physical aspects of the sport.
Beyond the technologies and platforms, Wyatt reveals the strategies behind NASCAR’s success, from gathering insights via fan councils to staying agile in a fast-changing digital landscape. He highlights how NASCAR’s participation in the SportsTech program fosters collaboration and innovation across the industry, helping the organization remain a leader in sports technology.
This conversation is a must-read for anyone passionate about the intersection of sports, technology, and fan engagement. Wyatt’s insights shed light on the creative and technical forces shaping the future of NASCAR and beyond.
Taylor Pipes
First of all, what is your official title at NASCAR?
Wyatt Hicks
Wyatt Hicks, Vice President Digital.
Taylor Pipes
Can you give me a high-level overview of your role at NASCAR?
Wyatt Hicks
I’m essentially responsible for creating the platform and products and fan experiences that support everything from content, fan engagement, internal initiatives, and strategic priorities for the company. Primarily, we’re focused on that digital user experience of what NASCAR fans want to follow the sport, how they use our technology to supplement their experience when they attend races, and how they follow us through a variety of platforms. While we do support a lot of internal initiatives, we’re here to think about the fan, and how they consume the sport.
Taylor Pipes
What’s the most interesting part of your day, and what do you look forward to most about coming to work each day?
Wyatt Hicks
There isn’t a typical day. The sport changes fast. We race 38 weekends a year. There’s always something going on within the sport from a competition standpoint, and then keeping up with that on the digital side, we always have a standard set of projects or roadmap that we need to get done. The interesting thing about what we do is we pivot on that quite a bit. No two days are the same, no two seasons are the same. We’ll kind of change course a few different times within the season as to things that we want to work on, roll out, or enhance. That makes it pretty exciting.
Taylor Pipes
And how long have you been with NASCAR?
Wyatt Hicks
12 years.
Taylor Pipes
In the last five years, looking at how fan engagement with sports and athletes has changed so much, what’s it been like to ride that wave over 12 years and just watch tremendous change impact the digital experience for fans in NASCAR? What’s that been like?
Wyatt Hicks
Yeah, I mean, it’s been a pretty wild ride for us. In the last six years specifically, we keep beating our record year in terms of fans coming to the digital platform and consuming content, watching, and using our apps and other live products during races. That’s all because of the general interest and renewed interest in the sport. Just knowing that is pretty exciting. So it kind of gives you the incentive to think about the best products and services that you can roll out for the fans. Most recently, we launched a rewards platform that was aimed at giving back to that community. So it has a heavy digital component to it. Beyond all the live experiences that we do, thinking about something we can give back to the fans who have been coming to our platform in droves over the last decade.
Taylor Pipes
You touched on the rewards program. What’s a highlight of another really exciting project that you worked on over the last six months or so that you’re excited about?
Wyatt Hicks
I think we’re really excited about next year. We’re going into a new rights deal, so we have new broadcasts and streaming partners involved. That’s super exciting for us. So thinking about how we use an established platform like ours to to help fans know where to find the races, where to find the practice and qualifying events, what some of the new streaming products are going to be out there, and helping them get to where they they want to watch. On top of that, we’re redoing the live leaderboard section for NASCAR.com, so continuing to add more and more data for fans to access. It’s a data-heavy sport. Fans like to know who’s going the fastest, lap times, when people pitted, and pit strategy. There’s so many other things that we’re that we’re starting to add that I think is going to be super exciting for the fans in the coming year.
I
Taylor Pipes
I’m a big history nerd and I lived in North Carolina for a few years. I followed some of the historic tracks and things like that, and then watched Dale Earnhardt Jr. help get that Wilkesboro track back up and running. Do you have any interactions or follow-through with that kind of thing? It’s just fascinating how the digital and then there’s this whole whole core group of fans that are just racing online, and they’re seeing these tracks kind of come alive.
Wyatt Hicks
As you see this nod to our history and bringing back a North Wilkesboro, a Bowman Gray, a Rockingham – you know that is important to us, while you also see us going to new markets and trying different things, like racing in the L.A. Coliseum or setting up a street course in the middle of downtown Chicago. It’s kind of this counterbalance of the core racing within the schedule while trying new markets, and then also giving a nod back to our history. That’s super cool to see. And it’s also really awesome to support from the digital platform. If you think about how we use it, it’s all about the fans. Part of that is embracing new fans into the sport, or going to nascar.com for the first time to understand how we conduct our races, who the teams are, who the drivers are, and what’s the schedule. It’s paying attention to the fact that a wide range of people are coming to the NASCAR digital platforms.
Taylor Pipes
Watching your digital evolution over the last decade has been phenomenal to see. The website and the digital experiences have changed and advanced the fan experience. How do you gauge and understand what the consumers want? How do you balance that new fan versus a returning fan? How do you figure that all out? Is that content strategy? Is that product development?
Wyatt Hicks
There are a couple of things that play in there. First, we’ve got an established Ffan Council, which we use to get feedback weekly. Specifically for digital products, we may get direct feedback before we roll out the final version. There’s a survey mechanism already in place, and being a digital platform, we have good insight into what fans are actually using. You know, they may claim something on a survey, but we’re seeing what the traffic is doing on our platform. We’ll make sure that we’re leaning into that or making sure that the user experience or the navigation is good. And the last piece is a little bit of the art, not the science. It’s determining that we do have some new fans coming into the sport, trying to roll the dice and create some content that we feel may apply to them, or create sections that give a little bit more basic information.
Taylor Pipes
How do you keep an eye on the next big thing that’s going to be coming down the track? Are you following other sports and leagues and teams and seeing what they do? Are you tracking competitive intelligence?
Wyatt Hicks
Yeah. Obviously, we’re a sporting and entertainment property, and anyone you talk to in sports got to their job by being somewhat competitive. We look at what a lot of other sports leagues, teams, and organizations are doing. Being in the SportsTech program is actually helpful with that, it’s valuable to see how open everyone is to kind of sharing what they’re doing, companies that they’re working with, and innovations that are coming down the pipes. Being able to have access to that is invaluable to where we might want to go, how that applies to the unique sport that we have, and how we think about new things to roll out.
To your question about how do we decide what to work on? We have no shortage of ideas. There’s no shortage of of data and content that’s available from the sport. I think we try to have that balance of, here are the must-haves in any given year that we need to make sure that we’re working on, that we’re creating solid projects, as well as leaving capacity open to those quick pivots, something new may come up that we want to kind of jump in on. How do we continue to roll out AI-based product features? We’re not really sure how much time and effort that’s going to take yet, but we know it’s important to do. So it’s kind of keeping that split between must-haves and then getting alignment that we’re only going to do so much, because we want to keep this capacity for when we need to jump on something.
Taylor Pipes
And shifting to the SportsTech program, you touched on a little bit, we know about your work with FanSaves, but I’m kind of curious if you could touch on NASCAR and your SportsTech-specific program experience with nVenue?
Wyatt Hicks
Yeah, so nVenue is helping us with a key strategic initiative for really, the entire sport and company. And obviously that’s sports betting, but it goes beyond that. So they’re serving a very specific purpose in creating in-race betting markets, which for us is hugely important because there weren’t many of them moving forward. Our Managing Director of Sports betting, Joe Solosky, was bullish on getting that up and running. So nVenue provided a key solution in that area and they’ve been super savvy and working with our data and in creating those markets and creating a product and service that can go directly to the sportsbooks. But on top of that, they’ve taught us a lot about analyzing our competition data, and they’ve even developed things for us that we’re now going to surface on fan-facing and consumer products that further that engagement for fans looking for it – things like, win probabilities, or just understanding what’s happening during the race that may not be seen by the naked eye, but that lives in the data, or the ability to understand what the data is telling you. They’ve been a unique partner of ours that we’re looking forward to develop even more with.
Taylor Pipes
What trends are you keeping an eye on in sports in general? You touch on AI and Gen AI.
Wyatt Hicks
I mean, that’s probably the lead one. There’s no shortage of ideas and use cases that we’ve already developed. Some of them have already rolled out and seen the light of day. It’s everything from operational processes to what cool new fan features you can create with it and even to the competition side. Again, cross-referencing what other sports leagues or teams, or any industry, may be doing with it is important to us to learn, understand, and apply to what we do. You know, the other one is head-mounted displays and wearable technology. Technology changes. It’s about figuring out if those are platforms that we need to be to reach new audiences and other spaces and digital worlds.
Taylor Pipes
It seems like NASCAR has an advantage with gaming and the platforms where kids are growing up now playing, and in some instances, full-fledged racing kits in their house – what has that been like for you to see that?
Wyatt Hicks
Yeah, I mean, it was, it was very, very good. During Covid, we were uniquely positioned to roll out virtual racing almost seemingly overnight, just because the eSports world and the iRacing world. It’s a very interesting piece with us because there are actual competitors who’ve come from that background.
Taylor Pipes
Are there any startups or companies that necessarily aren’t in sports tech that you’re keeping an eye on following?
Wyatt Hicks
Yeah! I’m not sure they’re 100% a startup at this point, but Cosm is super interesting to me. They’re leading with an experience, not necessarily the sports product. So, you know is that something that can help introduce a sports property to a whole new audience, just because they enjoy the experience and that immersive experience?
Taylor Pipes
Welcome to the lightning round portion!
Taylor Pipes
Who is your favorite all-time athlete?
Wyatt Hicks
Tim Duncan.
Taylor Pipes
What is your favorite sports team that you follow?
Wyatt Hicks
Washington Commanders.
Taylor Pipes
What is your favorite sport?
Wyatt Hicks
College football.
Taylor Pipes
Are you listening to a podcast right now?
Wyatt Hicks
Well, back to the Commanders, I typically listen to Beltway Football every day, but I also sometimes listen to This Week in AI.
Taylor Pipes
Who is your childhood hero, and why?
Wyatt Hicks
I probably say my dad. He passed pretty early when I was only 24, so at that point in my life, he just helped so much with, you know, what he was as a person, taught me a ton of stuff. He was a super engaging man. So I would say him.
Taylor Pipes
And if it’s your vibe, what’s your favorite go-to karaoke song?
Wyatt Hicks
That’s fun! Iris by Goo Goo Dolls.
Taylor Pipes
If you weren’t doing your current job, what do you think you’d be doing?
Wyatt Hicks
Probably, since I feel like I had my midlife crisis when I was 27 and was in the banking world, and I didn’t get into sports, I’d probably still be in the banking world.
Taylor Pipes
Wow. How’d you make that transition?
Wyatt Hicks
It was an interesting time. Right out of school, I started at a small regional bank that became Capital One so I kind of rode the Capital One way for a while, and then I had always maybe planned to go back to grad school, but kind of moved away from the MBA idea and got into the sports administration world.
Taylor Pipes
Did you have a mentor growing up or through your professional or academic career?
Wyatt Hicks
That’s a good one. Early on, it is probably coaches, but like professional life. I mean, Kathy Kauffman at Capital One was an amazing leader. I learned from her leadership and business style. Moving into the sports world, I was always impressed with John Swofford. I spent some time working with the ACC, and his style was amazing. It is something I try to implement and emulate.
Taylor Pipes
What’s the strangest talent that you possess?
Wyatt Hicks
Don’t make me do it, but I can make a sound that’s exactly like Chewbacca.
Taylor Pipes
That’s a good one.
Wyatt Hicks
I actually won a contest here in Charlotte when they were giving away tickets I can’t remember which one it was, but it was one of the newer Star Wars movies to make the Chewbacca voice, and I won it.
Taylor Pipes
What’s your favorite NASCAR track?
Wyatt Hicks
I get this question all the time and have such a hard time answering. Darlington.
Taylor Pipes
Do you have a favorite NASCAR moment in racing history?
Wyatt Hicks
But before I was there (at NASCAR), I had the opportunity to actually drive a driver around in driver intros at Daytona one year. So that one always sticks out to me.
Taylor Pipes
What’s the most memorable sports moment you’ve experienced and will always remember?
Wyatt Hicks
I’d be split between two. One would be when I worked at the University of Maryland in athletics, and we won a National Basketball Championship in 2002. Being there and working with Gary and seeing him finally win one was pretty amazing. The other one, again, is kind of with my affiliated school. I have a grad degree from the University of Texas at Austin and also worked in athletics there and the Rose Bowl with Vince Young when they beat SC for that title. Those are two big ones.
Taylor Pipes
That’s one of the greatest college football games ever. If there’s a sports moment you could change as a fan or even as a player in any sport, what would you change the outcome of?
Wyatt Hicks
Colt McCoy getting hurt against Alabama in the second Texas National Championship game that gave rise to Alabama’s dominance.
Taylor Pipes
What are you reading right now? Give us an idea of what’s on Wyatt’s nightstand.
Wyatt Hicks
That’s kind of funny because I’m reading Dave Alpern, who is the president of Joe Gibbs Racing, has a book called Taking the Lead.
Taylor Pipes
What’s your favorite emoji? If you use any in work-related messaging or Slack, is there an emoji you like to use a lot?
Wyatt Hicks
Oh, wow. Probably just the boom we give. We give a lot of booms out in Slack here.
Taylor Pipes
What’s your favorite comedy movie of all time? What’s number one?
Wyatt Hicks
Gosh, I’m trying to think. Bull Durham.
Taylor Pipes
Last one, if you had a walk-up song, what would it be?
Wyatt Hicks
Probably not terribly engaging to the readers here, but giving a little insight. I’m a big, big Grateful Dead fan. So it would have to be a Dead tune, just to pay my homage there.
Taylor Pipes
All right, well, thank you so much for your time.
Wyatt Hicks
Yeah, same to you. Bye.