NASCAR uses DJI Inspire 2 drone to indicate lane choose area

The NASCAR dirt track race on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway marked the first time drivers were allowed to pick a lane on a dirt restart. And giving a rather high-tech twist to the whole process was a drone hovering above the racing surface, carrying a bright orange LED marker to indicate the “choose” area.

NASCAR typically has a choose “V” shape painted just beyond the start-finish line on a track, signifying where drivers should line up before a restart. But that would have been near impossible to implement on Bristol’s dirt surface. Meanwhile, a drone sitting above the track surface is pretty hard to miss.

Jesse Little, NASCAR’s senior coordinator of competition operations, explains that people across multiple departments, including broadcasting and productions, were involved in the brainstorming session that led to the debut of the “Choose Drone.”

“The question that was thrown to the group was, hey, we’re choosing everywhere now,…