NASCAR this afternoon will announce Twitter will stream coverage from an in-car camera for the 10 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff races, marking the first time the sport has streamed live Cup Series coverage on the social media network. The move will start with the playoff opener at Chicagoland on Sept. 17 and run through the finale in Homestead the week before Thanksgiving. While precise arrangements were not divulged, NASCAR Exec VP and Chief Global Sales & Marketing Officer Steve Phelps said the sanctioning body was able to get race broadcaster NBC Sports on board with the idea because the media rights holder is interested in growing the sport's fanbase to a younger audience. The Chicagoland race still will be streamed on the NBC Sports App and air on NBCSN. The car that the camera will be in for Chicago has yet to be selected. Toyota will sponsor the stream of the Chicago race. Twitter will curate tweets about the race onto the live stream, which will be available for free for users in the U.S. NASCAR will debut individual Twitter emojis and hashtags for all 16 drivers that make the playoffs and has been working with drivers in recent months to help create them. Phelps said, "It’s a real opportunity to elevate the experience for our fans and we think it is very much a complementary product to an NBC broadcast." He added NBC "understands that sometimes fans are able to use a second and third screen, sometimes as a complement to the first screen, and other times they don’t have the ability to do that.” Phelps said it remains to be seen whether NASCAR could look to stream races in future seasons in a similar manner to this arrangement.
