NASCAR digital moving to Charlotte hub

Charlotte’s burgeoning sports media industry adds another major player this week as NASCAR.com moves from Atlanta to a sleek new operations center in uptown.

Based on the eighth floor of the 20-story NASCAR Plaza office building at South Caldwell and East Stonewall streets, the hub will operate the motorsport group’s web operations and other digital products – including mobile apps expected to be rolled out in coming weeks – beginning Thursday.

Already, about 50 people have been hired for the operation and another 20 jobs will be filled in the first quarter, says Colin Smith, NASCAR Digital Media’s managing director.

Since 2001, NASCAR.com has been managed by Atlanta-based Turner Sports, which also handles digital operations for other sports including the NCAA, the PGA Tour and the NBA.

A year ago, hoping to take better control of its message and boost TV ratings – which began sagging after the 2005 season – NASCAR decided to bring all its interactive, digital and social media rights in-house. Turner will continue to oversee ad sales and sponsorships for NASCAR digital through 2016. More at ThatsRacing