New data reveals NASCAR team popularity, fan demographics, and other surprises

In the last two decades, NASCAR has changed. The racing, the playoffs, the sponsors, and even the fanbase have all changed. Thanks to new data from YouGov we have an idea of what the modern NASCAR fanbase looks like and how they view the sport.

The data contains surprises as well as a few obvious conclusions. Perhaps the most revealing numbers are on the demographics of the modern NASCAR fan.

One issue NASCAR has had in recent years is attracting a younger audience. The YouGov numbers show that issue is very real. For the five most popular Cup Series organizations, a pluarlity of fans were in the 55+ age demographic.

Unfortunately, Stewart-Haas appears to have the most fans in the key 18-35 group. Hopefully, those fans of SHR stick around and don’t jump ship on the sport.

When it comes to gender, a lot of teams had a balanced ratio between men and women. Penske for instance is split 56%-44% between men and women. Joe Gibbs Racing is the most “masculine” of the teams with 63% of their fans being male.

Income data shows that there is a huge gap. Only 7-9% of fans are in the higher-income bracket. A vast majority of fans, 85% for Hendrick Motorsports specifically, are lower and middle-income.

Then you have the obvious results. Like most popular team and fan attitudes towards sponsors.

Hendrick leads NASCAR in popularity, not sponsorship loyalty

NASCAR is all about history and all about sponsorships. Fans cling onto drivers, teams, sponsors, car numbers, manufactuers and more. So, it is not surprising to see that YouGov found out that Hendrick Motorsports is the most popular Cup Series team.

When given the options of Hendrick, Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske, Stewart-Haas, and Richard Childress Racing, 32% of fans noted that they support Hendrick. JGR and Penske follow at 23% each with SHR at 20%, and RCR at 19%.

When it comes to sponsor loyalty, NASCAR fans are still willing to give companies and products a try if they are partnered with their favorite teams. Fans want to see their teams with “cool” sponsors and many prefer when sponsors stick to one team, instead of multiple.

With NASCAR entering a new media deal in 2025, there is an opporutnity to reach new, young audiences. Prime Video, TNT/Max, and even a social media partner in Bleacher Report can help bring stock car racing to a new, more online audience.