NASCAR is partnering with Sprint to let sports fans pick the next driver of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race via a new mobile initiative. 

NASCAR is continuing its partnership with Sprint on the effort aimed to get fans more involved in the sport. Through May 19, consumers can cast their vote through NASCAR?s Sprint Cup Android app or by texting in their vote.

?Mobile provides a fantastic way for sports fans to connect and have a voice,? said Tim Considine, director of sponsorship marketing at Sprint, Overland Park, KS.

?Fans are increasingly in the stands sharing their experience with their friends and family, all of which is based on the accessibility of a mobile phone,? he said.

Mobile driver
NASCAR and Sprint have been using mobile polling for fans since 2004 and it has increasingly become a core part of fans? experiences.

In 2011, sports fans submitted 2.4 million votes via SMS for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

Building on last year?s program, race car fans can again vote for their favorite driver by texting VOTE to the short code 229466. Users then receive a link to a mobile Web site with a list of NASCAR drivers that users can pick from.

Users can learn more about the drivers and cast their vote via the mobile site. The site ties each vote to a user?s phone number to cast their vote and consumers can vote multiple times.

As part of the partnership, votes made from Sprint, Nextel, Boost or Virgin Mobile devices will receive two votes for each entry. Using specific phone models that correlate to more votes is a smart way to give users an incentive for casting a vote while also enforcing the Sprint brand.

NASCAR is also letting sports fans vote this year via the NASCAR Sprint Cup Android app. The app is available only for Android-based Sprint devices.

The NASCAR-Sprint deal also includes a Web component that lets sports fans upload videos of themselves introducing their favorite driver at http://sports.sprint.com/speed/.

One video will be selected for each driver to be shown before the All-Star Race on May 19 both live at the race track and via the broadcast on cable network Speed.

Handheld partnerships
The mobile initiatives leading up to the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race build on a long-standing relationship between the two companies.

Last year, NASCAR worked with ESPN to let car fans watch the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup via the WatchESPN app (see story).

NASCAR also recently rolled out a mobile Web site that an executive claims has doubled the amount of mobile traffic coming to the site (see story).

For NASCAR in particular, the sport is based on strong relationships that sports fans have with specific drivers. Therefore, letting users vote for their favorite driver via their handsets is a natural way for the organization to leverage mobile.

?In NASCAR, fans really enjoy the fact that there is a large community around the sport,? Mr. Considine said.

?Sports fans are a community, and part of the enjoyment of being a fan is that there are other fans out there,? he said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York