NASCAR chairman says social media policy evolved

• France says sport committed to social media platform
• Promises digital cockpits with tablet-like readouts as early as 2014
• Seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty says NASCAR's decision on Keselowski was hypocritical

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Despite its ban on smartphones in cars, NASCAR chairman Brian France re-emphasized the sport's commitment to showcasing social media and technology Saturday, promising digital cockpits as early as 2014.

During his annual media address before Sunday's Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, France said the $25,000 fine and probation placed on points leader Brad Keselowski for having a cell phone last week at Phoenix International Raceway didn't send a mixed message about the importance of rebuilding its fan base through applications such as Twitter.

"We are the most aggressive in social and digital media in terms of our drivers, teams and tracks taking part of that," France said. "We'll soon be talking to you about a digital cockpit, as early as 2014, and smarter devices and smartphones and other devices can have an effect on manipulating the technology that is now going to be in the cars. We have to be careful about that.

''So that's why our policy is you simply are not going to be able to take a device into the car with you.

It doesn't mean we're not going to be the most aggressive at that. ... Brad's one of the leaders in that. We're going to keep pushing for them to do just that."

Keselowski made headlines when he tweeted during the red flag of the Daytona 500 and gained more than 100,000 followers in the immediate aftermath. NASCAR said afterward Keselowski didn't violate any rules prohibiting onboard electronic devices and that it encouraged drivers to use social media to express themselves.

But the sanctioning body seemed to reverse course this week, saying it warned drivers and teams in the weeks after Daytona that cell phones no longer would be permitted in cars. That caused plenty of confusion among fans, media and even seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty.

"I think it's hypocritical because (Keselowski) done it at Daytona and then NASCAR had a big meeting with everybody and said, 'Ooh, man, that's great, everybody go out there and do this just as much as you can,' and then they say, 'Just don't do it in the race car,' " Petty said. "They made that one up as they went."

France, though disputed that its social media policy was altered.

"It didn't change a bit," France said. "It evolved. That was the first time at Daytona we'd seen somebody in real time tweeting during a red flag. We now know we have things in the car affected by devices, smartphones and the like, that we have to make sure that we don't interfere with that and give someone the opportunity, even if it was unintentional, to manipulate some portion of digital devices and will happen now with electronic fuel injection.

"We love the attention it brought the sport and encourage it but have to balance it in the competition end to make sure nobody gains an advantage."

France said he expected the digital cockpits would have social media capability. Also referred to as "glass dashboards," the technology would introduce iPad tablet-type interfacing to Sprint Cup cars and offer new ways for fans to consume data.

"I fully expect that we'll have one of the real incredible opportunities because of how information, telemetry are integral to the running of each race," France said.

"For us to be able to share that information in very, very interesting ways with our fans, we are in the best position in sports just because we have so much of that information that is so relevant."

Disseminating information digitally and promoting itself via social media is a centerpiece of a five-year plan NASCAR has implemented in hopes of attracting a younger demographic to the sport. A redesigned model for Sprint Cup in 2013 also is considered integral.

Before France's address, NASCAR unveiled changes related to both. Vice president Steve O'Donnell announced the minimum age for the Camping World Truck Series would be lowered from 18 to 16 and also revealed that the new car, which has been tagged as the "Sixth Generation," will allow more room for sponsor placement on the roof and sides while also adding drivers' last names to the windshield.

The new car was "getting an amazing amount of acceptance, and there's been an unprecedented amount of collaboration," France said, but competition remained the key to making it a success.

"The missing and final piece is to improve on the quality of racing, to have the closest, most competitive, tightest racing that we can," France said. "Those are the rules packages that we'll be building around the car that I'm seeing the kind of things that I was hoping to hear in terms of the performance of these cars and how that's going to help us achieve our goal."

France addressed a host of other topics in a wide-ranging session with reporters for 30 minutes:

--France said that penalizing Jeff Gordon for intentionally wrecking Clint Bowyer at Phoenix last week indicated NASCAR's "Boys, Have at It" policy is working.

"We have a stated approach that this is a contact sport," he said. "We expect contact, especially late in the race. Drivers know what those limits are, and you can cross the limits. That's exactly what happened on Sunday. It was very obvious and very easy for us to figure that out, and so we deal with it. That doesn't change the idea we're not going to walk away from (limits).

"There'll be limits, and drivers know where the limits are. If they have any confusion on that, they can certainly talk to us directly or look at our calls and how we've dealt with it when we think those limits have been broken."

--France said he was "very pleased" with the way Dale Earnhardt Jr. handled being sidelined for two races by a concussion sustained in a wreck at Talladega Superspeedway after NASCAR's most popular driver said he raced with a concussion from an earlier wreck in a test at Kansas Speedway.

"We do look at that policy, head injuries and obviously concussions, which are a pretty big topic in a few different sports currently," France said. "There's a personal responsibility if you feel like you're not yourself and there's some things that your body is telling you that you just don't play on and race on, and it starts there.

"So I think (Earnhardt) he took a big lead (by) example. We have a very clear policy that if you're not feeling like yourself, in particular if you've had a hard crash, follow Earnhardt's exact plan. He could have taken all kinds of different approaches, but he took the right one. So we're going to continue to look at (the policy), but it's obviously an individual driver or team that must figure out those early symptoms."