The calendar has turned to August, and NBC Sports has taken over as the Cup Series broadcast partner for the rest of the season. The company celebrated its return by dropping a new intro highlighting the "grit" of Cup drivers.
The new spot starts with a black Ford Mustang Mach "22" rolling up to Charlotte bar/live music venue Smokey Joe's Cafe. A foot then descends onto the gravel parking lot. Close examination reveals a custom pair of Nike shoes bearing the Joey Logano logo and an outline of the Bill France Cup, the trophy NASCAR awards to the Cup Series champion.
Logano, the reigning champ, then heads into Smokey Joe's as the song "Avengers" from David Isaac Feldstein, Marc Ferrari, and Lance Morrison begins playing. Interestingly enough, the record that lands on the jukebox actually says "Space Truckin'" by Deep Purple.
Logano joins fellow drivers Chris Buescher, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Richard Petty, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell in the bar. Clips of them having a good time and playing pool mix with highlights from races showing cars flipping and crashing, as well as drivers celebrating big wins.
The crashes highlight the grit required to succeed at the top level of NASCAR.
Two different versions of this TV spot exist. A shorter, 30-second version debuted during the final race of the TNT Sports schedule, the Brickyard 400. A longer version will set up the 14 races that NBC Sports networks will air.
According to The Sports Business Journal, NBC Sports will update the intro as the season continues. It will add new highlights to the extended version of the intro video to reflect things that happen to the biggest names in the sport.
For example, the video that leads into Sunday's Iowa Speedway race on USA Network will now feature footage of Bubba Wallace kissing the bricks after winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Along with releasing the new intro video, NBC Sports has provided more clarity about its broadcasts team for this weekend's race. Leigh Diffey will return as play-by-play man while joining forces with analysts Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte.
Marty Snider will lead the pre- and post-race shows while highlighting the biggest stories of the season. Dave Burns and Kim Coon will serve as pit reporters while Dale Jarrett will anchor the Peacock Pit Box.