Before most people saw him race, they saw Lavar Scott on TikTok—twists hanging over his brow, in a black-and-red Rev Racing suit, rapping Ken Carson’s trap hit “Blakk Rokkstar” as he stepped out of his trailer, hyping himself up before hitting the track.
“I'm the pilot, I got my wings now / Porsche GT3RS, got the wing out”
The clip then transitions to Scott’s No. 6 car zooming across the track, exhibiting the same unbridled energy as the song.
The TikTok vid drew 1.2 million likes, with comments like, “We’re in NASCAR now?”
Everything about a NASCAR race is loud. The engines thunder, the crowds erupt as their favorite drivers fly by on every lap. The sound is so intense that anyone stepping onto the track is handed earplugs or headphones. It's not enough to silence it, but just enough to soften the roar.
When the noise is so overpowering that it drowns out every other thought, it’s easy to overlook the quieter shifts taking place—especially within the culture of the sport.
For many people, the image that comes to mind when they think of NASCAR is closer to a Ricky Bobby stereotype—a sport often perceived as rooted in a Southern, rural, and overwhelmingly white cultural lens. But Scott senses the sport pivoting in a new direction.
“It's not how it once was,” Scott says. “I could see why people might think that, but it's definitely a new and changed NASCAR.”
Scott, a 22-year-old from Carneys Point, New Jersey, is one of approximately 16 Black drivers to ever compete on a NASCAR track, joining a small group that includes pioneers like Wendell Scott and two-time Daytona 500 runner-up Bubba Wallace. There are presently just five Black drivers actively competing acorss all NASCAR series.
Scott is steadily climbing the ranks. After a strong 2025 ARCA season, he signed with Alpha Prime Racing driving the No. 45 car and will now compete full-time in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, NASCAR’s second tier. This Saturday, he will race in the United Rentals 300, the season opener at hallowed Daytona International Speedway. It might be a long road before he can drive in a Cup Series race since there’s a cap on entries, but for now it’s all about making a mark in the O’Reilly series.
Scott has arrived at a time when NASCAR is in desperate need of new personalities, new storylines, fresh energy, and reaching beyond the traditional fan base. Over the past ten years, viewership has declined from 13.3 million to 6.8 million. In 2025 alone, viewerhsip fell 14 percent. There are many contributing factors, most notably races moving from broadcast television to cable or streaming platforms. But drivers like Scott are showing where the sport is heading.
Scott’s path to NASCAR started when he was five years old in a go-kart on a dirt track, a family tradition sparked by his grandfather’s love for cars; his mom and aunt also both raced. In 2019, he joined the Drive for Diversity Youth Driver Development Combine, a program created to support underrepresented talent in motorsports. There, he secured his spot with Rev Racing and Max Siegel, a NASCAR executive many in the industry credit with the sport’s diversity growth. Scott would work with Rev for the next few years, honing his skills before making the jump to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Like many racers, Scott knew his hobby had become a real career the moment he made his first start at Daytona, home of the famous Daytona 500. “That’s when I was like, ahh, this is real now, this is my life and this is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Scott says.
From that moment on, he committed to staying focused, staying sharp, and receptive to learning. One of the biggest lessons he faced was realizing that his job responsibilities extended beyond the track.
In NASCAR, building a personal brand is almost as important as driving. With sponsorships accounting for 60 to 80 percent of a team’s total value, drivers must focus not only on performance on the track but also on cultivating an image that helps keep their cars funded and running.
Unlike football and basketball, where athletes often grow their personal brands alongside their teams’ visibility, NASCAR drivers take on much of the responsibility themselves—actively reaching out, attracting attention, and building their own fan base.
For Scott, he has been learning to embrace the learning process of it all even if it means, at times, he has to behave like an influencer.
“It’s tough, because as athletes we have to do these things and have to post, have to put products out there, whereas Jalen Hurts, he doesn’t have to,” Scott said, noting how much more effort drivers must put into building their brands compared to athletes in other sports.
“In NASCAR we’re not at that level of popularity yet,” he says. “So I think we have to be more creative with trying to get our names out there and kind of gain that reach.”
Scott isn’t alone in working to grow his online presence to attract fans. In a time when audiences want to know athletes beyond the helmet, uniform, or car, behind-the-scenes access has become part of the appeal—seen in Netflix series like the NBA’s Starting 5 and NASCAR Full Speed. Recognizing this shift, NASCAR has leaned further into digital culture and influencer marketing, from inviting streamer IShowSpeed to broadcast himself driving a race car to partnering with New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara as a brand ambassador who promotes the sport through offseason appearances and marketing activations.
Social media may be central to building an athlete’s personal brand today, but it’s far from the only factor that matters. “It’s more than just what you do or what you play,” Scott says. “It’s how you present yourself for the next generation coming up, for the youth or people watching, because naturally people are going to look up to you.”
For Scott, that responsibility extends beyond performance and into visibility. He understands that how he carries himself—online, in interviews, and at the track—shapes how young fans see both him and what feels possible for themselves.
Still to this day, racing is all he wants to do, so much to the point that he struggles with who he is outside of the track.
“I feel like everything I do is kind of shaped around my career in a way,” he says. “Whether it's social media or working out or with my friends, racing is always on his mind.”
He’s trying to get into golf during his free time, but even that ties back to his love for motor sports.
“I think some of the skills that you need in racing plays a part in how the ball goes hand in hand,” he says. Still, he has time to figure things out. “I don't need to know everything right now. I'm 22 and I'm still searching.”