NASCAR, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, is the sanctioning body for American stock car racing, founded in 1948. Its visual identity has evolved through five distinct marks, with the most recent primary logo introduced in December 2016 for the 2017 season, replacing the familiar “bar mark” that had been in use since 1976 [1].
Design and History
The 2017 redesign was developed in collaboration with RARE Design, a branding agency whose portfolio spans several major American sports [2]. The new mark was designed to pay tribute to NASCAR’s history, incorporating elements of all four previous marks used since the sport’s inaugural 1948 season [1]. According to NASCAR’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer Jill Gregory, the goal was to “evolve the sport’s visual identity to make it concise, relevant and functional, while respecting and maintaining the unique qualities of the original mark” [1].
The new logo features all capitalized, white bold letters with yellow, red and blue stripes placed before the wordmark [3]. The previous logo, in contrast, used white bold lettering overlaid on stripes of yellow, red, magenta and blue [3]. RARE Design describes the new identity as maintaining “the chiseled forms and racing stripes unique to the iconic bar logo” while utilizing “a cleaner presentation and simplified color palette” [4].
NASCAR’s logo history includes four previous marks: the original logo from 1948, a change in 1956 used until 1963, another in 1964 used until 1975, and the multi-color bar mark introduced in 1976 that remained the primary logo for four decades [5]. The 2017 mark became the fifth in NASCAR history [6].
Meaning and Symbolism
The 2017 logo incorporates the red, yellow and blue coloring from the first three marks, respectively, along with the “racing bars” that accompanied the NASCAR acronym in the prior iteration [6]. RARE Design’s description of the redesign emphasizes that NASCAR is “driven by the need to race,” with the identity conveying the spirit of competition [7].
For NASCAR’s 75th anniversary in 2023, a special commemorative logo was revealed in August 2022. The diamond-centric design was befitting of NASCAR’s Diamond Anniversary [8]. The ovoid design took inspiration from the yellow-and-red logo used from 1956 to 1963, while the diamond in the center has five stripes representing the five different logos throughout NASCAR history [9]. The colors were derived from the previous logos’ primary hues: red in the 1948 logo, yellow in 1956 and blue in 1964 [9]. Both the current and anniversary logos were the work of RARE Design [7].
Typography and Design
As part of the 2017 identity refresh, RARE Design created a custom typeface called “Big Bill,” named after NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and his “larger than life personality.” The typeface was influenced by elements from past league logos [4]. RARE Design also developed a comprehensive set of brand guidelines for internal use by NASCAR, designed to inspire rather than simply clarify usage [4].
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