NASCAR on Twitter: Insights From Tweets Can Assist In All Angles of Sports Handicapping

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NASCAR on Twitter

by Micah Roberts
Gaming Today - Las Vegas

One of the biggest social networking outlets out there is Twitter. At first, I was a bit dismissive about it. I was never into MySpace and use Facebook as means to keep in touch with relatives, but Twitter has now become much more than a place where you state what you’re doing.

I use it regularly to keep up-to-date with all things going on in the sports world, in particular, with NASCAR. There are over 45 drivers on Twitter that tweet regularly. While many of the tweets are comedic, there is also lots of insightful information that can help and assist with your weekly handicapping.

The drivers give up-to-date and honest information regarding their cars and teams after each practice. That type of information was never available in the past. Most of the time when handicapping a race, you look at straight numbers only, but when someone like Kasey Kahne tells you straight up before the race that his car is terrible and doesn’t know what to expect in the race, it’s much more telling than any kind of number on paper.

NASCAR is the largest group of any sport that regularly tweets, but the information gained for other sports is invaluable as well. Real time injury updates and other information that impact games hit Twitter first in many cases before the news even hits the wire. For people that regularly make wagers on all sports, that type of information is huge, especially before the news hits the Sports Books and a line is taken off the board.

On the lighter side, you can also get to know a NASCAR driver’s true personality by things they say. NASCAR driver Scott Speed is an absolute nut job; he and his wife Amanda tweet non-stop and it’s almost like a reality show with their banter.

You find things out that maybe you wouldn’t otherwise know, like when Speed tweeted Saturday regarding Danica Patrick after her qualifying run for the St. Petersburg IRL race. "She Qualified 21 out 24 cars, LOL," meaning laugh out loud.

Las Vegan Kyle Busch is a regular tweeter and is probably the most fan friendly with all his tweeps, meaning Twitter people following. He gets thousands of tweets a day and somehow manages to reply to most, something that most of the drivers don’t do.

There still are a few major drivers that don’t tweet like Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr, but they’ll likely come around. Stewart says he has better things to do than tell people he’s going to bed, but he’ll catch on soon like radio talk show host Jim Rome did.

Rome went on a half-hour comedic rampage about how stupid Twitter was a year ago. Just last month, Rome got an account and now has half of his nation following his tweets.

For sports purposes, Twitter is an absolute must follow just to get all the information. I use it religiously for that and also to send out my thoughts and articles to whoever wants to read them out there. You can follow me on Twitter at Micah Roberts7. You can follow GamingToday at GamingTodayNews.The

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is off week this weekend, and then onto Phoenix where the Childress cars look to be the ones to focus on.

Danica-Mania Has Already Started; First Race is Saturday at Daytona

by Micah Roberts


This Saturday’s Nationwide race at Daytona can expect high ratings with lots of interested parties because that is where Indy Racing star Danica Patrick will make her official racing debut. Last week she finished sixth in the ARCA race at Daytona, the first time I have ever watched an entire ARCA race on television from start to finish.

Patrick did well in that race and finished sixth. This week will be much more of challenge especially considering she’ll be racing against Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, and her boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

She doesn’t have any lofty expectations of winning the race, but will utilize the chance to race against Stewart and Earnhardt Jr, who have both taken her under their wing with advice.

Her Nationwide practice times jumped from the first session where she ran at 26th to the final session where she clocked in fifth fastest. Many of the teams were using the final session in qualifying trim making limited simulations, but fast is still fast.

She has a great team behind her and the equipment to do well if she picks things up as fast as she appears to have done.

Still, the difficulties of doing well in her first race are the opinions of many including the Las Vegas sports books. Station Casinos opened her odds to win Saturday’s race as the longest shot at 50 to 1.

Just about every NASCAR driver has a Twitter account and they tweet regularly like their in a contest of some sorts. It is apparent by some tweets that some in the NASCAR circles feel some animosity because of all the hoopla surrounding Patrick and her debut.

Regan Smith tweeted Wednesday during Nationwide practice that ESPN’s coverage of Patrick was a bit much saying, The other 50 plus drivers should have coverage for them ESPN classic.

The hype surrounding Patrick has been huge, but why not? She is a unique individual that crosses all lines by selling sex and Motorsports at the same time. Who else can look as good as she does in her bikini and commercial shoots while driving a car at the level she does?

The detractors who say she hasn’t won anything for all the attention garnered are missing the bigger picture. Sex sells in America and businesses are buying it knowing that her crossover appeal will attract attention to their product just because of the splash she makes.

Television ratings won’t match Sunday’s Daytona 500 which is expected to grab close to 17 million viewers, or a 10.0 rating, but it should be one of the most watched Nationwide races just because of ESPN promoting the race non-stop as Patrick’s NASCAR debut.

I’m hoping she does well and validates all the attention given to her while gaining respect from those on the fence. However fans feel about her, it’s safe to say many will watch just to see what happens next to create their next opinion.

For those on twitter, she is currently asking her 84,000 followers to create a nickname for her. We may have to wait a few races to get a read on her stock car personality. If it turns out to be anything like her time in the IRL with some of her outbursts and confrontations, the suggested names will be interesting.

One thing is for sure that we can all agree on is that we’ll be watching.