What started as a fun idea a couple of weeks ago turned into a social media explosion at Richmond International Raceway this past weekend, during its April 25-26 NASCAR events. If you happened to be following @RIRinsider, @NASCAR, @DaleJr, or even @RGIII, you may have seen #RIRselfie in your Twitter timeline, along with potentially 11,300,000 other users.*
RIR is the acronym for Richmond International Raceway, and selfie is – well, we all know what a selfie is. Prior to the event weekend, RIR promoted its social media campaign through Twitter and Instagram with a fun YouTube video.
Aimed as a way for fans to have fun on race weekend and win some prizes, it rapidly started gaining momentum on Friday, with many drivers, sponsors, fans, and industry partners doing their best to one up each other. That was followed by a lengthy rain delay. When there’s nothing to do, why not take a selfie? Or an #RIRselfie, to be more specific.
It reached new heights Friday night after Kevin Harvick won the ToyotaCare 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race. The winning car is owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. – NASCAR’s most popular driver. Unprompted and unscripted, Earnhardt Jr. came to Gatorade Victory Lane and tweeted out an #RIRselfie that received nearly 1,200 retweets.
The following day, Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III arrived at RIR as the Honorary Pace Car driver. But first, he had to take a selfie – or about a dozen selfies. His #RIRselfie(s) included Earnhardt Jr., Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Henrico County Police Department, and fans.
Over the course of the weekend, #RIRselfie topped 43 million impressions.
RIR PR
