Texas Motor Speedway in promoting yesterday's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 was "poking fun at both veteran drivers and the Cup Series' rising young stars" with its "New Kids on the Track" campaign, according to Anthony Andro of USA TODAY. An in-house video of the young crop of drivers was "set to a New Kids on the Block song with the young drivers’ heads placed over the band member’s bodies." There were also New Kids on the Track banners "all over the track, including one outside the entrance to the media center." That banner is "flanked by enlarged tweets by Kevin Harvick reminding everyone that the average age of race winners this season is 38.5." Andro noted the old-young guard drama has "taken on a life of its own," and few people "seem to be taking any offense to it." Harvick: "It’s a cool promotion. I like the promotion if you like good marketing, but if you like winners, you go for the old guys. I love every one of those kids on the poster. I think they’re all great for our sport. I am not taking personal digs at them. I’m trying to have as much fun with it and, as I told them, they should have fun with it." The idea for the TMS promotion came to track President Eddie Gossage when he was at Daytona Int'l Speedway at the start of the season, when the youth movement "was being pushed." But Harvick said that it has "lost some steam since veteran drivers have dominated the first six races." Twenty-one-year-old Erik Jones said, "I don't know the New Kids on the Block." Twenty-six-year-old Daniel Suarez added, "[The veterans] have a very strong fan base and they have, obviously a lot of support. They have pretty much the path already made, and I feel like for young drivers sometimes we need that extra push to start making that path and to start building that fan base and there is nothing wrong to have that extra support" (USATODAY.com, 4/7). In Dallas, Gerry Fraley noted Harvick at age 42 has "emerged as the symbol of NASCAR's old guard" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 4/7).
MEASURING SUCCESS: In Ft. Worth, Drew Davison noted Suarez and Bubba Wallace "are two fresh, young faces for a sport that is trying to create more personalities and trying to broaden its fan base." Suarez has the ability to "reach Hispanics; Wallace the black community." Gossage: "More steps need to occur. One Hispanic driver, one African American driver is not going to be, ‘Oh, we’ve resolved that issue. Check that one off the list.’ We need more to follow." For Suarez and Wallace, getting wins is the "best way to truly ingratiate and excite their demographics." Suarez said, "You need to be successful. Fans like to have their driver win races" (Ft. Worth STAR-TELEGRAM, 4/8).
