The five U.S. cities with the highest concentration of Hispanic fans interested in NASCAR are Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta, according to 2015 Scarborough Research data reviewed by SportsBusiness Journal. There are a number of NASCAR tracks near those areas, including Auto Club Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Given that, many of these facilities have taken to leveraging Daniel Suarez as they bid to grow their Hispanic fan bases.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway is another track near a large Hispanic population center. The venue, which has an annual marketing budget in the seven figures, has increased the percentage of spending for Hispanic marketing for NASCAR races from around 2 percent five years ago to now 10 percent.
Kevin Camper, LVMS’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, said the track saw a massive increase in exposure earlier this year following a Spanish-language media tour with Suarez. However, admissions for Hispanic fans, who typically make up less than 10 percent of LVMS’s crowd for NASCAR races, remain relatively flat of late, Camper said.
“It’s an uphill battle — we haven’t seen a huge success — but I think the more popular that Suarez gets … the better off it helps us resonate with the Hispanic community,” he said.
