Heaters State Water

Wear NASCAR Stuff

One of the easiest ways to

prove you’re a NASCAR fan is to wear merchandise supporting your favorite driver or team. While it’s not as permanent as getting a tattoo, it’s probably a more affordable method for new fans looking to showcase their support.

Fanatics.com and NASCAR.com offer fans a plethora of merchandise options, from the traditional shirts and hats to loungewear, hoodies and jackets, visors and bandanas. Polo shirts and button-downs are also easily available if you’re more interested in what pairs well with a work outfit.

In addition to traditional retailers, race tracks and race team shops also offer lots of swag for fans to wear at the track, in the living room or in the office.

If you’re a Chase Elliott fan, you’ve got lots of options for new apparel featuring the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion – but you’d be well-served to move quickly.

Some of Elliott’s hats sold out on his website’s store soon after they went on sale late last season, prompting a slew of fans to request a warpspeed restocking. He’s the most in-demand of all active NASCAR drivers, but if you fancy one of the sport’s underdogs, don’t worry. There are shirts and hats for pretty much every driver in the field if you’re into the newest gear.

If you’re more like Ryan Blaney – or, you just like Ryan Blaney – go with the old-school option and check out throwback merchandise on eBay.

After all, a Tim Richmond hat looks good on any fan.

Support a Driver’s Charity

Long thought of as a

way for NASCAR drivers to give back to important causes, driver charities are another avenue for fans to show how much they’re invested in the sport. It’s also an impactful way to influence society.

Some high-profile examples of charities include: • The Kyle Busch Foundation’s

“Bundle of Joy” fund advocates infertility education, awareness and grants to give opportunities to couples needing financial assistance to have their own bundle of joy.

The group began its journey with the REACH (Reproductive

Endocrinology Associates of

Charlotte) infertility clinic. • The Dale Jr. Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of underprivileged individuals, with a focus on youth, by providing the resources to improve their confidence and education and the opportunity to achieve extraordinary goals. TDJF frequently partners with organizations including Blessings in a Backpack, Make-A-Wish and the Nationwide Children’s Hospital. In some cases, driver charities were borne of drivers’ families experiencing the difficulties their charities work to overcome. “We knew this was our calling and we knew that there weren’t many groups out there supporting IVF financially for couples,” said Samantha Busch, Kyle Busch’s wife and the co-founder of the Bundle of Joy fund. “We really felt like we always prayed about it and God was like, ‘You’re going through this journey for a reason.’ “Seeing the couple (who received a grant) – it was like a visible weight was lifted off their shoulders when we told them that we would be paying for their treatment. We started working really hard for that.”

VIP EXPERIENCES

While this comes with a big asterisk for 2021 (*depending on track safety protocols due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the VIP experiences are the perks that most ONMC members rave about. These experiences include NASCAR Cup Series garage tours, entry to driver meetings, the opportunity to high-five drivers at introductions, and entry to the Winner’s Circle post-race. Future plans include providing ONMC members the opportunity to wave the green flag during practice and joining the parade laps during driver introductions.

A SOCIAL OUTLET

Many ONMC members become lifelong friends after meeting at tracks and sharing their love for NASCAR. From a social media perspective, members can stay up to date on NASCAR news as it happens and gain access to content from NASCAR’s most respected writers and insiders.

CONSTANT SUPPORT

If a member has a question before heading to the track, he or she is encouraged to reach out to ONMC Member Services for guidance and peace of mind. ONMC staff will respond to emails or calls between Monday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EST).

Web: www.onmc.com

Phone: 877-696-2722

Email: memberservice@onmc.com

Join the Official NASCAR Members Club

Passionate NASCAR fans can

express their fandom by joining the Official NASCAR Members Club. Members receive a slew of benefits, including:

DISCOUNTS AT THE MEMBERS ONLY STORE

Save up to 70% on NASCAR and driver products on the ONMC online store, which is exclusive to members. Get exclusive first looks at deals. The Official NASCAR Members Club can offer the best prices on memorabilia due to its partnerships with manufacturers and suppliers of products and services.

Get a NASCAR Driver Tattoo

Buying a driver’s shirt or hat

shows off your fandom whenever you wear it, but a tattoo lasts forever (unless the driver’s number changes – then you’ve got a conundrum on your hands).

Fans have gotten driver, car and number tattoos for decades, but as the tattoo industry continues to expand, the number of fans who’ve inked up their arms and legs with NASCAR tattoos has likewise grown.

Scott McNew, a NASCAR fan from Monroe, Michigan, has followed the sport since the mid-1990s. McNew has an Earnhardt sleeve, with ornate tattoos of Dale Earnhardt’s No. 3 car and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 machine along with each driver’s signature, likeness and even logos of the Brickyard 400 and the Pepsi 400 covering an entire arm.

“I’ve always been an Earnhardt fan, so I thought getting the No. 3 on my upper arm looked really cool,” McNew said. “I decided to add his signature on there and then I figured, why not just turn it into a whole sleeve with Dale Sr. on the upper arm and Dale Jr. on the lower arm?”

Talk about being expressive!

“Getting a driver tattoo shows how passionate you are about your favorite drivers and it shows that you’ll stick with them through thick and thin,” McNew added. “If there are fans out there thinking about getting a driver tattoo, I say ‘Go for it.’

“It may not be cheap and it will take time to get done, but in the end, it is most definitely worth it.”

Plan to Visit Every Cup Series Track

It’s going to require some

time, travel, money and, yes, patience, but if you really want to show how sold out you are to the sport of NASCAR, it would be well worth attempting to visit every NASCAR Cup Series track at some point in your lifetime.

Forty years ago, this would have been much easier, of course. That’s because back then, most all tracks were located in the Southeast corner of the United States and therefore a drivable distance from each other. Not so anymore. These days, you’ll find NASCAR Cup Series tracks all the way from California to North Carolina and from New Hampshire to South Florida.

If you’re not into air travel, visiting every race track is going to be tough, but let’s assume you’re good with flying. Since there are

Sonoma

Las Vegas

Phoenix Elkhart Lake

Kansas City

Fort Worth

Austin Michigan

Indy

Bristol

Nashville Talladega Watkins Glen

Pocono Dover Richmond Martinsville

Charlotte Darlington

Atlanta

Daytona

Miami

just over 20 tracks, maybe plan on visiting one a year if you’re under the age of 45. If you’re over 45, it might not be a bad idea to hit at least a couple of tracks every year, just in case you’re not as excited about traveling in your later years.

However, regardless of how and when you do it, it’s worth every NASCAR fan’s time to visit every track at some point. Not only will you get to experience different parts of the country and see what makes each track unique, but you will make sweet memories with family and perhaps friends while doing it – especially if you go in your RV or motorhome so you can arrive a couple of days early and enjoy the full fan experience.

Be a Force on Social Media

There are numerous ways NASCAR fans can showcase their

passion for America’s fastest sport. Perhaps the easiest is to be actively involved and engaged on social media, where NASCAR’s foremost drivers, team owners and personalities frequently interact.

Twitter has become the de facto location for NASCAR’s elite competitors to speak to and hear from their ardent supporters, and it’s been a beehive of activity since the 2012 Daytona 500 – when Brad Keselowski snapped a cellphone photo from his cockpit during a red flag. Keselowski’s impromptu photo provided that year’s eventual champion with two things: a threefold increase in Twitter followers, and a $25,000 fine from NASCAR for tweeting during a race.

Despite the lightened wallet, Keselowski’s “transgression” gave other drivers the green light to become more involved on Twitter. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano are but a handful of drivers who frequently post on Twitter after – but not during – their races.

Jumping in the conversation can give any fan the platform needed to jumpstart a new conversation, or in some cases, a new opportunity. It’s where many social media influencers, including “Out of the Groove” host Eric Estepp, build a base of followers who flock to Estepp’s Twitter and YouTube pages for the latest news and informed takes on what’s happening in NASCAR.

Fans seeking to show off their photos, opinions, memorabilia collections and marriage proposals can enjoy the same benefits of increased enjoyment and social media engagement without worrying about a $25,000 fine. Sounds like a good deal!

Play Fantasy NASCAR

Fantasy football has be-

come a staple of late-summer football season preparation, much like how fantasy baseball has been a popular springtime go-to for decades.

Why not try the four-wheeled version?

Fantasy NASCAR has grown by leaps and bounds over the last 10 years, with NASCAR.com, FanDuel and DraftKings serving as de facto stops for fans to assemble a lineup of drivers for every race weekend. The format is similar to other fantasy sports: Pick a team of drivers and “start” the ones most likely to compete for the checkered flag every week.

NASCAR Fantasy Live, a free service on NASCAR.com, enables fans to play the role of team owner by selecting five drivers per race for their lineup. Each driver is given points based on their finishing position, place differential, pass differential, laps led and fastest laps.

If you had Kevin Harvick last year, you probably had a pretty fun season – even more so if Harvick and Chase Elliott were in your lineup.

Fantasy NASCAR is a phenomenal way for fans to not only show off their strategic skill and NASCAR knowledge, but to also make friends (and enemies) by joining leagues, winning races and trash-talking like they’re in Victory Lane with their driver.

Most leagues offer prizes for winners, so there’s often more at stake than simply your reputation as a team-builder. Being an expert fantasy owner can also lead to raking in some cash, as places like DraftKings pay big money to the most skilled and active players.

Support a Local Track

Many of the biggest names

in NASCAR cut their teeth at short tracks across the country. In addition to catching all of the NASCAR Cup Series races on television – or, at the track – fans can do their part to support the sport’s future by attending races at local short tracks.

Fans who attend local Saturday-night short-track races will also get to see some of NASCAR’s up-and-comers before they reach the big time.

And, who knows? Depending on which tracks are closest to you, you may find an unexpected name in the Late Model lineup. Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott are two of NASCAR’s biggest stars who not only support their roots in racing, but they go one further by going to short tracks to compete against the quickest hot-shoes in town.

While he’s a proud Georgian who’s raced on bullrings like Watermelon Capital Speedway in his home state, Elliott is also a devout Late-Model fanatic who’s spent plenty of time on short tracks throughout the Southeast.

Last December, Elliott nearly became a three-time winner of the prestigious Snowball Derby at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway, a track that has also seen Busch, Darrell Waltrip and Donnie Allison enjoy the thrill of victory.

“It’s important to support short-track racing in places like Pensacola (home of the Snowball Derby),” Elliott said. “Getting to know the crowd growing up there and the crowd getting to know me, it makes it special to not only win but to return as often as I can.”

• Bowman Gray Stadium (Winston-Salem, N.C.)

• Madison International Speedway (Oregon, Wis.)