Oura Rings to Help Drivers and Employees Monitor and Optimize their Health and Performance
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 26, 2020) – NASCAR announced today a multi-year Official Partnership with Oura Health, the technology company behind the smart ring that provides users with biometrics and analysis into their sleep and overall health to improve performance and monitor for potential illness. Through the partnership, Oura becomes an Official Health Technology Partner of NASCAR.
After rigorous vetting by NASCAR, Oura emerged as an accurate and efficient solution to advance the organization’s approach to health and wellness. As part of the agreement, NASCAR Cup Series drivers and key operational employees across the sanctioning body will be provided with an Oura Ring, which delivers personalized readiness, activity, and sleep insights to provide a holistic picture of a person’s health.
By monitoring changes in an individual’s temperature, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV) and respiratory rate, Oura Rings can also potentially detect abnormal fluctuations in asymptomatic carriers as well as previously healthy individuals who are experiencing the onset of a disease. Oura Rings have been used in TemPredict, a study at University of California, San Francisco, and in a separate study at the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI) West Virginia University — contributing to a growing body of research on illness detection, symptom profiles, and recovery.
“In today’s challenging environment Oura Rings provide an edge to keep our athletes and employees safe,” said John Bobo, Vice President, Racing Operations. “Oura’s advanced technology will work glove in hand with NASCAR’s safety protocols. What impressed us was the quality of data that Oura collects, and how high performing athletes and individuals can use that to improve their performance. We also look forward to a long-term partnership and what we can learn from Oura in the years ahead.”
Building on significant advancements in research, and its long-standing Oura Teams product, Oura has developed the Health Risk Management (HRM) platform to help support NASCAR’s safety protocols. This platform assigns a unique Risk Score to participating athletes and staff members. The score indicates the likelihood that an individual is experiencing symptoms that correlate with illness. In the event someone is experiencing symptoms, Oura will send an alert directly to the individual and inform them of the recommended next steps, such as taking a COVID-19 test, seeking further medical attention, or isolating themselves from others.
“We are thrilled to join NASCAR in its effort to provide employees and athletes with the most accurate data and insights to help improve their overall health and assist in detecting the early onset of illness,” said Harpreet Singh Rai, CEO, Oura Health. “Our goal is to help NASCAR and its industry make more informed decisions as they enter the Playoffs, with an eye towards the future and the performance benefits our technology can provide.”
To protect the privacy of participants, the HRM platform is designed to be 100% voluntary and opt-in only. Drivers and league personnel can ask to be removed from the program at any time. All biometric data collected will remain private. Additionally, the Oura Ring does not track user location.
Fittings for the initial phase of the Oura Ring deployment in NASCAR are scheduled to begin in the coming week, with the goal of all participating NASCAR Cup Series drivers and employees being outfitted by the first round of the Playoffs.
About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States. NASCAR consists of three national series (Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™, and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series™), three regional series, one local grassroots series, three international series and the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (‘NASCAR’).
About Oura Health
Oura Health is the company behind the smart ring providing actionable insights on sleep and its impact on overall health. The ring tracks all stages of sleep and accounts for daily activity to provide practical steps for long term improvement. Founded in 2013, Oura is now used by top performers including Jack Dorsey, Michael Dell, Arianna Huffington, Marc Benioff, the NBA, the WNBA and more. Oura Health is headquartered in Oulu, Finland, with offices in Helsinki, London, and San Francisco. Oura has raised a total of $47M of funding from Forerunner Ventures, MSD Capital, Gradient Ventures, and Square. For more information, please visit http://ouraring.com/.
