Cybersecurity and NASCAR have crossed paths before, and not in a good way. In July 2016, a prominent NASCAR team suffered a ransomware attack that quickly spiraled into a nightmare. The chief’s computer was hit with a TeslaCrypt variant, encrypting every file in sight and locking the team out of critical data. The hackers demanded Bitcoin for the decryption, forcing the team into an uncomfortable decision. Pay off or lose priceless files. The incident didn’t make national headlines for long, but it marked NASCAR’s first documented run-in with ransom and set an unsettling precedent.

Fast forward to 2025, and history seems to be repeating itself. A fresh attack has thrust NASCAR’s name back into cybersecurity headlines, raising the stakes and the questions all over again.

Medusa Ransomware leaks confidential NASCAR files

It all started in April 2025; Hackred.com broke the news that Medusa ransomware was taking credit for a major cyberattack on the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, attaching a staggering $4 million ransom to its claim. Weeks later, NASCAR confirmed that its internal systems had indeed been infiltrated, an admission that effectively backed early reporting.

The beach notification NASCAR submitted to the Maine Attorney General’s office revealed that the compromise had happened on March 31 of this year, though it wasn’t formally identified until June 24. Interestingly, Hackread.com had reached out to NASCAR on April 8 about Medusa’s claim, but the governing body offered no response or acknowledgement. A report posted by Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal details the timeline of events that led to this.

NASCAR hasn’t released a specific number of impacted individuals, but it did verify that the files containing personal identifiers, including names and Social Security numbers, were among the stolen data. Yet Hackread.com’s review of the Medusa poster on the dark web showed that the intrusion was touching areas beyond personal information.

An early look at the leaked files suggested they held floor plans of racetrack facilities, employee directories listing mails and job titles, and even credential-related details, a sign that the attackers have breached both the sports operational and registered backbone. Nevertheless, NASCAR has notified the affected individuals and will be offering one year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection services through Experian.

Medusa ransomware has been around since 2021, but its operations have escalated in recent years. Among its most notable hits was the 2023 attack on Minneapolis public schools, where the organization dumped student and staff records online after a $1 million ransom demand went unmet. Hospitals, municipalities, and telecom firms have also been among its targets, with massive data leaks following refusal to pay. Earlier this year, Medusa grabbed attention again for using stolen digital certificates to disable anti-malware programs, a tactic detailed in a March 25 report, allowing them to look and detect while moving deeper into indoor networks.

Just before that, on March 13, the FBI and CISA jointly urged organizations to tighten their defenses, issuing guidance on measures like multi-factor authentication and monitoring for suspicious certificate use. Rebecca Moody, head of data research at Comparitech, weighed in. She said, “Medusa’s $4 million ransom demand from NASCAR is significant. So far this year, the group has issued an average ransom of just under $300,000, making this demand over 10 times higher. There could be several reasons for that, including NASCAR’s high-profile status or the volume of data stolen. While the full impact of the NASCAR breach is still unclear, Medusa is already behind one of its largest ransom-related breaches, with Bell Ambulance reporting 114,000 affected.”

As NASCAR grapples with cyberattacks and off-track vulnerabilities, the conversation around the sport’s identity is only getting louder. Into that debate steps a blunt voice from the past, veteran driver Mike Skinner. While hackers target NASCAR’s system, Skinner is aiming for something else entirely: modern-day NASCAR rivalries.

Mike Skinner fires away on NASCAR drivers

Former NASCAR driver Mike Skinner didn’t hold back when asked about today’s Cup Series field. The 68-year-old veteran competed across all three of NASCAR’s national divisions, making 286 Cup Series starts. While he never snagged a Cup series win, Skinner earned six poles and 39 top 10 finishes in the top tier, plus victories in both the Busch (Xfinity) and Truck Series, where he even claimed the inaugural Truck championship in 1995. That long resume gives weight to his critique of what he sees in the sport today.

Speaking recently on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, Skinner made clear that his criticism isn’t of the racing itself. He explained, “I think the racing today is really good. I love this car that they have in the Cup Series. I love the way the trucks are—the trucks you can still work on. You can still get a little bit of an aero advantage if you work early, really hard. I really, really love it.”But then came the sting. Skinner continued, “But we need more of those rivalries.”

Skinner comes from an era where rivalries like Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon, or Kyle Busch and nearly everyone in the field. However, the modern era is more about business than anything else. And to add to that, the change in championship format means the sport no longer has those 2-3 drivers that fight tooth and nail for 36 races to come out on top, which was the breeding ground for original NASCAR rivalries.

And even off the track, scuffles on pit road have reduced, as a driver’s image for their sponsors has taken precedence in a more business-driven sport. While we still get the occasional argument between the likes of Joey Logano and Ross Chastain, it doesn’t give the ’90s and 2000s vibe that Skinner reminisces about. What do you think? Does NASCAR need more rivalries to take the sport back to its golden era? Let us know in the comments!