Danica Patrick is more well-known for her off-the-track commercials than her on the track performance, but she made history at the Daytona 500 becoming the first women to ever win a Sprint Cup pole and lead a lap in the Daytona 500. She finished a very respectable eight place. It was also a unique time as grand marshall James Franco started the race by saying “Drivers and Danica start your engines”. Singling out Danica Patrick was something that had never been done before and was received well by fans. A recent Sales Force Marketing Cloud blog by Andrew Gotheif highlighted that as Patrick was making history on-the-track it was a prime opportunity for her sponsors to ride her momentum and time in the spotlight. Some of her major sponsors, including GoDaddy.com, capitalized on this opportunity in the Twittersphere by tweeting numerous times throughout the race about Patrick. Danica Patrick’s breakout weekend turned out to be a blessing  in disguise as rapper 50 cent sent out a tweet from the Daytona 500 saying “Damn, I don’t see no black people lol”. This comment was literally the last thing NASCAR wanted to have said to almost eight million of 50 cent’s twitter followers as they have tried over the years to appeal to a more diverse range of people other than the stereotypical white southern folk. I think Danica Patrick’s success on the track will continue benefit not only her sponsors, but allow her to gain more respect among other drivers in a male dominated sport. As for NASCAR, I cannot see the demographic/ racial makeup of their fans changing as such a deep history and culture has been formed that does not currently allow for new fan segments. 

    Top Number of Tweets About Daytona 500 Drivers During The Race