NASCAR RACING THROUGH CYBERSPACE.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

For a sport that only goes around in circles, NASCAR finds itself pretty far ahead of the curve when it comes to being new-media-friendly in today's brave new world.

Traditional TV, print and radio might devote much of its time and space to football, basketball, baseball or Tiger Woods. But for NASCAR, an aggressive approach to interactive television, the Internet and satellite radio has put all other sports on alert.

``Our media portfolio couldn't be more robust,'' said Jeffrey Pollack, NASCAR's managing director of broadcasting and new media.

``For technology and information junkies, there's nothing better than NASCAR. All our new media ventures are geared toward exploiting the most current technology in a meaningful way that's relevant to the fans.

``We won't do a venture just to do it. We create a new product only if it means something and increase.''

Start with the TV coverage.

Now that Fox and NBC have successfully consolidated network over-the-air coverage into a place where it's easier to find the sport, digital cable technology has gone the next step to allow viewers to covert their La-Z-Boy into a left-turn-only rig without the Technicolor paint job.

NASCAR's In Car pay service, in its second full season, has been worth the $129 annual fee for those who want the visual and audio experience each Sunday of being behind the wheel with seven drivers live. Screen graphics also show everything on the driver's dashboard with real-time data while you can hear the radio contact between the driver and pit crew.

A demonstration of the service is free on the InDemand Website (www.indemand.com). It's only available in the 16 million homes that have digital cable systems (not yet on dish services) and is not offered yet on a per-race basis.

One way to measure the service's success: It won a TV Emmy award in 2003 for interactive TV and then won a sports Emmy last week in the technological achievement category.

``This is the future of interactive TV today,'' said Pollack, the co-producer of the service. ``The interactivity may be limited to just changing channels (to see each driver), but it represents more content, a more immersive experience and convenience and control for the viewer. There's no other product that puts you in the middle of the action like this does.''

Online, NASCAR fans can get basically the same experience without the video in what has become the most advanced subscription-based service.

The TrackPass service, which has a 14-day free trial offer, costs between $6.95 and $12.95 per month, or up to $64.95 a year.

Here, one can listen to the in-car audio of nine drivers, view live leaderboards and follow the live GPS-based program that gives telemetry data. When there's no racing, it also has fantasy league reports, interviews and other multimedia features like condensed races and recaps available 24 hours a day.

This service at NASCAR.com also has drawn quick critical acclaim as the Web site is one of five currently nominated for a Webby Award - the online version of the Oscars - in the sports category.

On radio, the XM satellite coast-to-coast service has the first all-NASCAR channel -- it's the only sport that has a radio channel all to itself 24 hours a day.

Likewise, on the News Corp.-owned Speed Channel (in 60 million homes), NASCAR has formed a partnership to be a channel within a channel, pumping out daily features and race replays about the sport.

All this convergence of media, which is intended to be complimentary to the over-air TV network coverage, also gives NASCAR an entry point for those who may feel displaced in a major market like Los Angeles where NASCAR has to compete with other sports for exposure.

``We don't worry necessarily what any other sport is doing, we just want to do what makes sense for our sport and fans,'' said Dick Glover, the vice president of broadcasting and new media for NASCAR.

``Our approach is `fancentric.' And the beauty of technology is its always growing and expanding. We can look into digital cinema, high definition and video on demand. There's an awful lot of places to go.''

Tom Hoffarth, [phone]

thomas.hoffarth(at)dailynews.com