JGR ace is crystal clear on what NASCAR must learn from WWE to make fans go nuts

Chase Briscoe recently got a front-row seat at WWE's Monday Night Raw and came away with some takeaways to improve NASCAR's fan engagement. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver believes that the pre-race segments could use a dose of showmanship to up the ante.

Driver introductions are held approximately 30-45 minutes before the race start, allowing for special pre-race moments. For instance, 2023's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway featured drivers being introduced by legendary ring announcer Michael Buffer, with each walking out to an entrance song of their choice.

During an interview with Sirius XM, Chase Briscoe called for more such experiences, inspired by his recent outing at WWE.

"It was honestly amazing to me just how good they are with the fan engagement, just how much of an event it is. So I was telling the NASCAR guy that we went out there with, I was like, man we need, like put some of that stuff in our pre-race intros or something because the fans are just going nuts when every song comes on and each guy has his own thing that the crowd does. It was definetely from that side of things super cool," he said via X/KyleDalton.

In 2024, NASCAR shook things up and partnered with WWE superstars Rey Mysterio and Brawn Showman. The duo served as honorary starters for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas, a move aimed at adding fanfare to the pre-race rituals.

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NASCAR sees major peak in Xfinity race at Rockingham

The NASCAR Xfinity Series recently made it's return to Rockingham Speedway after a 21 year hiatus, drawing an impressive viewership of 1.053 million. Moreover, the event saw a sold-out venue with 20,000 fans turning up.

The Rock entered the calendar as a short track, following a 2022 repavement effort that reduced it's length to 0.94 miles. The 250-lap event witnessed a dramatic finish with a multi-car incident triggering an overtime restart, allowing Jesse Love to take the lead and earn the checkered flag. However, the Richard Childress Racing driver was stripped of his win after a disqualification from a post-race inspection.

Sports reporter Adam Stern took to X to share Rockingham's strong viewership stats, writing:

"[The CW] got 1.053 million viewers for Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Rockingham, meaning all 10 of the opening events of the season topped 1 million. It's the second best viewership for an Xfinity race at Rockingham."

NASCAR previously recorded a 12% hike in viewship during the 2025 Duels at Daytona International Speedway. 23XL Racing's Bubba Wallace posted his first Duel win of his career while Hendrick Motorsport's Austin Cindric took the top step in Duel 2. The season opening Daytona 500 saw polesitter William Byron brave the wrecks and cautions to record his second consecutive victory at the track, becoming the first back-to-back winner since Denny Hamlin in 2019 and 2020.