Each year, the Super Bowl marks something completely different for NASCAR fans than it does for football fans.
It means that Daytona is one week away (see the Dale Earnhardt Sr. meme for reference), and that means that the Super Bowl itself stands as a critical opportunity for NASCAR to advertise and draw as many eyes to its product as possible. That means the organization is subject to criticism each year regarding that advertising strategy, and this year is no different.
Two Frontstretch writers are here to give a clearer picture of NASCAR’s advertising during America’s Big Game.
NASCAR and Fox Did — Just — Enough
The Super Bowl is the most watched television event of the year and one that everybody looks forward to. That is of course unless you are a Detroit Lions fan, then you are merely watching in protest out of spite and self-loathing. Game aside, the commercials during the Super Bowl are always a focal point of discussion: who had the most memorable one, whose was the most disappointing, who was conspicuously absent and so on.
The other Super Bowl of course is this Sunday (Feb. 16) – which you would know having watched the big game since there were many Daytona 500 ad placements.
It would appear that NASCAR and FOX made a quick checklist of what was needed for the 2025 promotion for their biggest race, on the largest televised stage in the country.
- Present a still image of defending Cup Series Champion.
- Showcase a close but not particularly iconic finish from 2016.
- Play a 55-year old song for Boomers.
- Play a kind of weak William Byron burnout from last year’s 500.
- Run the same ad five times during key intervals of the broadcast.
- Make sure to get a zoom in shot of NASCAR’s 7-time Most Popular Driver watching at stadium, but do not make contact with or interview said driver, also known as the face of the sport.
So, did NASCAR do enough to advertise their marquee event? Judging by this list of prerequisites, they absolutely did.
To quote David Spade in “Tommy Boy” regarding picking up on sarcasm, “I’d hope so, because I’m laying it on pretty thick.”
Now did NASCAR do enough to promote the race, or did FOX do enough to promote the race? That’s the real question, and as the season goes on, that will probably start to come to light a bit more clearly. It feels like when a couple of your friends who are married suddenly stop posting pictures of themselves together on social media, except for an impromptu birthday or Valentine’s Day message.
These star-crossed lovers that are FOX and NASCAR clearly had the platform to do something special. They had the time, the ad space and a key figure on site at the game. While Erin Andrews may not be as nimble as Shannon Spake, she’s just as mobile as Jalen Hurts and could have made time to get Elliott’s thoughts on the Great American Race coming off his historic win in the first Clash event at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Cue the Pawn Stars meme of, “Best I can do is Joey Logano with green eyes…”
The content of the ads was clearly lacking, particularly when juxtapositioned with the IndyCar ads, whose series doesn’t even hit the track for another month and doesn’t have its signature event until the end of May.
I am also pretty sure that is the first Daytona 500 ad on FOX that didn’t reference the 1979 fight in the infield between Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough as Richard Petty took the checkered flag, Dale Earnhardt winning in 1998 or Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin coming to the line door to door in 2007.
Time will tell if this was a one-off or just a harbinger of things to come with FOX and NASCAR. The Clash at Bowman Gray was well received by just about everyone despite some legitimate criticisms of camera placement, which was understandable given that it was the first time at the track. There was more than enough browbeating as the season wound down with how the Truck Series was broadcast too.
If the Daytona 500 ad content was a sign of what’s to come, the relationship between NASCAR and FOX that is entering its 25th season might be a rocky one.
The ingredients were there to help bake the Daytona 500 before the biggest TV audience possible, with the demographic and viewers they have been desperately trying to cater to for the last 10 years. They just ripped it out of the oven after only 10 minutes. – Vito Pugliese
NASCAR and Fox Super Bowl Ad Strategy Shows a Clear Shift Forward Towards IndyCar.
Two things were noticeably lacking during Super Bowl Sunday.
One of them was any kind of fight from the Kansas City Chiefs in the first half, and the other was a lack of current Cup Series talent in FOX’s promotion for the Daytona 500.
Although FOX used the reigning champion and former Daytona 500 winner Logano as the main promotion figure of for the advertisement, the main problem with the clip of Logano leading the 500 is that they used the 2023 running where he finished second to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. under caution instead of his 2015 victory. That’s not to mention that Logano is fresh off of winning arguably the most polarizing championship in NASCAR Cup Series history.
FOX relied heavily on calls and classic finishes from previous generations that happened way before the Next Gen era of NASCAR, highlighting the problem that no true stars shine bright enough to promote the sport in today’s climate.
Not all is bad though. Throwing in the classics like Jeff Gordon’s first Daytona 500 win, Earnhardt’s 1998 victory and a call of Ken Squire mentioning the late Bobby Allison is nice and brings nostalgia to loyal fans. FOX also added a few calls by longtime play-by-play announcer Mike Joy, both recent and old.
The graphics, music and artistry used in the commercial were fine. Using Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford as a screen to see those classic moments was unique and interesting, and the uses of photography flashes and confetti was a nice touch as well.
The Super Bowl broadcast also gave a quick promotion for the 500 coming back from commercials with some pictures of the top drivers in the series. The cameras then panned to Chase Elliott, sitting in a luxury box while the commentators debated to themselves if he’s an Atlanta Falcons fan. Although, they had used that same advertisement on previous FOX NFL games.
Though, one question stands tall from this: where’s the rest of the sport’s stars of today?
Denny Hamlin is a three-time champion of the 500. Kyle Busch is going for his first Daytona 500 in his 20th try. Active drivers like Byron, Stenhouse, Austin Cindric Michael McDowell, Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon are current Daytona 500 winners in their own right. Why not throw them into the promotion? Other current champions and popular drivers such as Ryan Blaney, Elliott and Kyle Larson could have made the ad even better as well.
The use of the uninspiring call by Clint Bowyer didn’t capture much interest and instead, brought a little bit of cringe with his delivery. No doubt, Bowyer is doing his best in the booth, but there’s still some rust that’s being shaken off after his 2023 “oh, he got turned” call to end that Daytona 500.
The glaring issues with this year’s promotion of the Daytona 500 are only magnified when compared to the brilliant and masterful production FOX put into their IndyCar promotions of Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward. The two commercials aired as 45 and 40-second commercials, respectively. NASCAR’s Daytona 500 commercial only filled a 30-second slot.
The level of unique detail put into the filming of the two commercials showed that FOX has moved the priority to promoting IndyCar over NASCAR. Hell, FOX didn’t even bother to push a Bowman Gray commercial weeks before the Clash, contrary to when the company promoted the L.A. Clash.
The absence of motivation to push promotion of the Daytona 500 comes to no big surprise, but it is still a massive disappointment to some NASCAR fans. And with the handling of promotion this year, it seems doubtful that the promotion of NASCAR events by FOX won’t be getting better any time soon. — Wyatt Watson
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s OnSI Network, a contributor for TopSpeed.com, an AP Wire reporter, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host and master's student at Mississippi State University. Soon, Tanner will be pursuing a PhD. in Mass Media Studies. Tanner began working with Frontstretch as an Xfinity Series columnist in 2022.
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime
Vito is one of the longest-tenured writers at Frontstretch, joining the staff in 2007. With his column Voice of Vito (monthly, Fridays) he’s a contributor to several other outlets, including Athlon Sports and Popular Speed in addition to making radio appearances. He forever has a soft-spot in his heart for old Mopars and presumably oil-soaked cardboard in his garage.
Should we be happy they mentioned NASCAR and the Daytona 500 at all? I’m not sure how much NASCAR and football fans overlap, considering the yearly fall dropoff of ratings in September.
And I’m not surprised they focused more in IndyCar, since its their first year and they want to drum up support.
The fall ‘drop off’ would prove there is an overlap? The problem is the drops are football fans who casually watch some NASCAR until football starts. I don’t think there is a cure for that.
The IndyCar adds really caught my attention. Promoting the series rather than an event, I wanted to watch them. The NASCAR stuff, while professional weren’t as sharp as Indy and hit me as ‘same old stuff. As the writer(s) pointed out, some of the NASCAR clips seemed to be odd choices.