Nascar driver tweets during race, adds 130K followers

Race drivers don't normally have passengers along for the ride, but Nascar's Brad Keselowski's iPhone and Twitter account got a coveted seat in the cockpit during the Daytona 500.

What's cooler than a powerful racing machine hurtling around a track at 320km/h? A powerful racing machine with a twittering driver on board.

There are plenty of tech tie-ins with Nascar's famous Daytona 500, which got off to a late Monday start after a rain delay. Danica Patrick's GoDaddy sponsorship may be the most noticeable, but driver Brad Keselowski made the geekiest impact with his Twitter escapades.

A freak accident resulted in the explosion of a truck full of fuel kept drivers off the track under red flag conditions for quite a while in the middle of the race.

Keselowski took the opportunity to upload some photos from the track and tweet updates to his followers, such as, "#NASCAR prez says hopefully we'll be back racing in 30 minutes".

The 28-year-old driver also fielded questions about how much battery life he had left on his phone (28 per cent) and where he keeps it while racing (in his pocket). The live updates garnered Keselowski an additional 130,000 followers eager for news during the delay.

Tweeting from the track isn't likely to turn into a major Nascar trend, but there's nothing to stop drivers from striking up an online conversation while waiting around for track repairs.

Expect Nascar to put its foot down, if tweets start pouring out from drivers as they're cranking toward the finish line. You know what they say about texting and driving.

Via CNET