What NASCAR has discovered these past two years or so is that big names from other sports sell very well in the series. Several F1 drivers decided to leave the turns and bends of Formula circuits for the low-thrill landscape of a concrete oval.
But now it's time for even less NASCAR-related names to take their shot (usually a poor one) at a NASCAR circuit. Names like Travis Pastrana, X Games champion, Brian Deegan, Freestyle Motocross rider or Ricky Carmichael, another motocross racer, have either confirmed or expressed their interest in one of the NASCAR series.
"We're thrilled Pastrana is coming to race, we're thrilled Deegan is coming over and we're excited they could be racing against Ricky Carmichael again," said NASCAR marketing head Steve Phelps. "We'll help them build a new fan base and hope they bring a new fan base to us."
Strangely enough, it's guys for guys with NASCAR. By bringing these names on the track, NASCAR hopes to draw closer to the motorsport males in age group 18 to 34, who keep on moving away from the sport.
"We over-index in the 18-to-34 male segment, but it's down," Phelps said. "We need to be sure to stay relevant in that demographic and action sports is one way to do that. That's why we've tried to help."
Google News