Jeff Gordon won the race at Martinsville today to collect another Grandfather clock. He took advantage of Matt Kenseth taking out Joey Logano who probably had the best car of the day. Jeff’s win was very emotional and watching him celebrate like he was a teenager that just won homecoming was fun to watch. This win was so much fun to watch as Jeff’s wife and children were in victory lane.
Media Responsibility in NASCAR
The past couple of weeks there have been stories “leaked” by the media about drivers, sponsors and teams that weren’t really for “prime time”. Most recently was a story about Dale Earnhardt, Jr driving the #3 car at the July 2010 Daytona Race. That story was reported from insider information and it was supposed to be under wraps until the sponsor was ready to announce it.
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway April 23, 2010:
“Well we really ain’t got anything confirmed. DW* sort of blew the lid off of it on Twitter nonetheless but… so that kind of ruined our announcement but we will put together and we will have an announcement real soon and explain what that whole program is all about and how it came about and what is going down with it. And it’s unfortunate that DW uncovered that and the way it went down because we didn’t want to have to announce it like this so we will do it when we had it originally planned and that is all I can tell you about it.”
Sports media people get access to drivers, sponsors and teams and information is sometimes shared in confidence or with the understanding that it isn’t ready to be posted. When media breaks that confidence and breaks a story just to be “first” they ruin the credibility of all media. Especially when the media breaking the story is a major mainstream media reporter that has access to more people than most others, and is expected to honor the confidentiality of the information being shared.
There is a lot of resistance still to “new media” such as websites like Awesome Race Fans and non-print, internet radio, internet tv and podcasts. We need to work together to ensure that access to drivers, teams and sponsors isn’t abused just to “get the story”. That will hurt credibility for all media and will cause us to have less access to the very people we need access too.
So moral of the story is, no matter who you are, no matter who you heard something from, check your sources, check with your source to be sure the timing to break the story is OK, and most of all, don’t abuse the access you get just to make your station, website, etc “look good”. The one time of breaking that one story that wasn’t ready, could end not only your credibility, but the access and credibility of those coming next.
*DW = Darrell Waltrip, three-time former NASCAR Winston Cup champion, winner of the 1989 Daytona 500, current television race commentator with Fox Broadcasting Company and columnist at Foxsports.com.
Final Laps at Phoenix Nationwide Series NASCAR Race
Video of exciting finish at the Phoenix Nationwide Series NASCAR Race April, 9, 2010.
Tony Stewart is Going Green
The No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy Impala driven by two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™ champion Tony Stewart will feature a special green-themed paint scheme this Saturday, April 10, during the Subway Fresh Fit 600 race at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR).
The paint scheme coincides with the upcoming 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, and recognizes a new and innovative partnership between Office Depot® and EarthEra®, a program created by NextEra™ Energy Resources, North America’s largest producer of wind and solar power.
To launch the partnership’s first program, “Greener Shipping”, Office Depot will balance the carbon footprint of the Subway Fresh Fit 600 race at PIR. Through its purchase of EarthEra products, Office Depot is helping the race “grow greener” by balancing the carbon footprint of not just the cars on the track, but fan travel, race team travel and track operations during the race.
The paint scheme coincides with the upcoming 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, and recognizes a new and innovative partnership between Office Depot® and EarthEra®, a program created by NextEra™ Energy Resources, North America’s largest producer of wind and solar power.
To launch the partnership’s first program, “Greener Shipping”, Office Depot will balance the carbon footprint of the Subway Fresh Fit 600 race at PIR. Through its purchase of EarthEra products, Office Depot is helping the race “grow greener” by balancing the carbon footprint of not just the cars on the track, but fan travel, race team travel and track operations during the race.
Due to the innovative structure of the EarthEra program, 100 percent of the revenue from Office Depot’s purchase will be used to create new renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar, in the United States.
The new Office Depot Greener Shipping Program encourages eligible Office Depot customers to “grow greener” by changing how they buy office supplies. When eligible customers eliminate small orders, increase average order size and help reduce delivery frequency, Office Depot will provide rebates on certain green products and purchase EarthEra products on the customer’s behalf.
“I love spending time outdoors, especially when I’m at home, and taking care of the environment is important to me,” said Stewart, who lives near his hometown of Columbus, Indiana, and functions in the dual role of driver and team owner at Stewart-Haas Racing. “As a business owner myself, I am always trying to find better and more efficient ways of doing things to cut down on waste, and I’m proud to help get the word out about the partnership between Office Depot and EarthEra.”
To learn more about Office Depot’s Earth Day Grow Greener campaign, please visit http://www.officedepotgrowgreener.com.
To buy greener office products from Office Depot, please visit http://www.officedepot.com/yourgreeneroffice. You can also find Office Depot on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OfficeDepot and Twitter at http://twitter.com/officedepot.
GoDaddy, Danica Patrick and NASCAR
I have to admire what GoDaddy is doing for NASCAR. I am not a fan at all of GoDaddy hosting, but I *am* a Danica Patrick fan and I’m glad she is racing in NASCAR. Her first stock car race was the Daytona ARCA race (not really NASCAR) and she was able to avoid wrecks and finish. Her first Nationwide race was last weekend in Daytona also, and she got collected up in a big wreck and was unable to finish. Today she finished, and not quite last 🙂 She’s doing what needs to be done to become a great stock car driver, which is quite a change from the open wheel cars she is used to driving.
Love her or hate her, she is bringing new fans to stock car races, hopefully people that will become race fans now. In this economy Bob Parsons could have cut back instead of expanded his sponsorship in racing, and in doing so he is getting great press for his company AND giving the sport a boost. Some women are offended by her sexy image and commercials, some men don’t take her seriously. I think by the end of this season, she’ll be established as one of the best and the naysayers will be changing their tune.
There are male NASCAR drivers that use their looks in their commercials… Kasey Kahne comes to mind…
Go get ’em Danica, we’ll be watching.