The challenge of implementing and maximising the possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) is not unique to motorsport.
In recent years, the technology has been used across the sport for various use cases, including to inform race strategy, drive fan engagement and deliver operational efficiencies.
Like the wider sports industry, though, motorsport is still learning. And one series that has created a specific role to help it get to grips with the nascent technology is Nascar, which appointed Richard Bowman as its first-ever director of AI in April just four months after he was first hired as an AI operations specialist.
While it is not unusual for sports organisations to have executives in technology-focused roles, no other motorsport series has one centred around AI in the same way, illustrating that Nascar is serious about both the opportunities and challenges that come with the technology.
Prior to joining Nascar, Bowman was supporting technology adoption in schools in New York and Charlotte, making him the perfect candidate to educate Nascar staff about how to get the most out of AI.
“As someone who’s been in adoption for over a decade, [education] is something that I not only have experience with, but it’s something that I prefer,” Bowman tells BlackBook Motorsport. “Where the human and the technology meet, we have to decide how are we going to upskill? How are we going to train people?”
“The question is are they using it well?”
Bowman believes that AI will have “some kind of influence” on every area of Nascar’s business in the future. In the short term, he says that AI will predominantly help drive efficiencies in areas like internal communications, social media, editorial and HR.
Much of Bowman’s role to date, though, has been focused on ensuring that the technology is being used in the right way across the business.
According to Bowman, if an organisation is still focused on how to implement AI, then it is already far behind, because AI use is widespread whether it has been sanctioned or not.
Indeed, ‘shadow AI’ – whereby employees use AI tools without the approval, monitoring or involvement of an organisation’s IT team – has become a growing security threat for businesses. Prioritising governance and education is therefore crucial.
“The question right now isn’t are people at my company going to be using AI?’,” Bowman says. “The question is ‘are they going to be using it well?’”
As well as educating employees on AI guidelines, it is equally important to ensure that the tools being used are fit for purpose. Bowman’s answer is to have a single “front door” that every AI tool has to pass through before reaching a Nascar employee. This includes checking whether it shares data with third-party providers or if it holds proper accreditation, citing SOC 2 as the standard he looks for.
“I like to call it an AI bouncer,” Bowman adds. “So a tool comes in and I’m like ‘what’s in your back pocket there? Are you training on my data?’
“Every AI initiative is passing through our AI front door, and then after it passes through the bouncer, then it meets on the other side kind of like a cruise ship director and it’s like: ‘Now let me introduce you to all these people.’”
“We’re trying to put a jetpack on your back”
Bowman says that having a vision and mission statement around AI usage will be crucial for the entire Nascar organisation to have clarity about the direction of travel.
Establishing the right governance is an important step, but those protocols only work if employees understand and trust them, which means addressing the anxiety around what AI adoption means for people’s jobs. Bowman is acutely aware of this uncertainty.
“We’ve been extremely transparent,” he says. “When we see AI, we’re not trying to put a robot in your chair, we’re trying to put a jetpack on your back.
“[AI] should allow you to do more, and so that was important for me to make sure that we had clarity from the top all the way down to the bottom. I don’t want anyone [at Nascar] thinking this is a headcount strategy.”
Bowman also points to other sports as a warning of what can happen when organisations don’t do the foundational groundwork.
“I find that a lot of sports leagues are really focused on possibility, but for us at Nascar it’s not just about possibility, it’s also about capability,” he explains. “Rather than just trying to do AI for AI’s sake, we want to make sure that we are actually doing some internal transformation as a company.”
Bowman believes Nascar’s 80-year history is evidence of the sport’s “pedigree of adapting”, highlighting how a legacy property can still build a tech-forward strategy, provided it puts the right people at the helm.
Part of that means encouraging those working within the organisation to innovate and turn individual wins into shared knowledge.
“So often people are showing me, ‘look at this cool thing I did with AI’ and I’m like, ‘that’s awesome, but the person in the cubicle next to you has no idea what you just did, and they do the same task as you’,” Bowman explains.
“When someone has figured out a really cool way to use AI in a particular department, we need to turn that into a playbook. We need to turn that into something that we can deploy so that when the next person comes in, we don’t have to think about that issue in the same way.”
AI brands have begun taking tentative steps into the world of Nascar sponsorship, such as Shield AI with 23XI Racing’s Corey Heim (Image credit: Getty Images)
From popcorn to systemic innovation
While much of Nascar’s focus for now appears to be on internal processes, many sports have already been exploring how AI could transform the fan experience.
As excitement around the potential of agentic AI grows, Bowman takes a more cautious stance. He acknowledges that it is one of the most powerful tools today, but argues that its potential power make’s clear lines of authority, responsibility, and accountability even more important.
“We need to treat agentic AI in the same way that we would treat someone who works for you,” he continues. “If you have a direct report, and that direct report produces something, the responsibility is also on you.
“We (Nascar) are going to move a little bit more slowly when it comes to agentic AI and generative AI because they come with higher risk. Some of it isn’t just technological risk, some of it is the confidence our fans have in us.”
That caution also extends to the vendors developing the technology. Bowman’s experience in the space has taught him to separate the hype around a particular tool from the value it can actually deliver.
“We need to make sure that we are protecting not just the brand but also the fans from the immense amount of hype and promises that may or may not be things that come to fruition, so we have to guard against that,” he warns.
From a fan perspective, Nascar will initially be using AI to gather a much wider spread of feedback to help improve the experience, including around things such as leaving the circuit after a race and even their thoughts on the catering.
More broadly, Bowman believes success will mean moving from “popcorn-style innovation” to “systemic innovation”. The objective isn’t just to find isolated examples of what AI can do, but to develop expertise across the entire organisation.
“At the end of this decade, an AI-enabled organisation is one where people understand where AI belongs, know how to use it, know what the rules are around it, that there are managerial expectations of them,” Bowman says.
“That’s the fertile soil for building some long-lasting efficient processes that eventually create a win for the organisation, a win for the worker, and a win for the consumer.
“To me, that is the AI dream.”
Richard Bowman will be speaking at SportsPro AI + Tech in London on 29-30 September 2026. Discover the full line-up and agenda, as well as more information about attending, here.