The 2026 NASCAR season is kicking off this weekend with the Daytona 500, and the series took advantage of record-breaking Super Bowl viewership to place an ad during the big game letting everyone know how exciting and all-American the sport is. This advertisement is a gauntlet slap in the face of Formula One, a return to the sport’s roots, and a signal that it’s going to lean in to fun and excitement this year rather than the manufactured drama of 2025’s disappointing championship run.
Look, if you’re going to have my hometown racer Carson Hocevar ripping donuts in his Dale Earnhardt-livery pickup before blasting flamethrowers with the internet’s favorite Cletus while “Free Bird” plays, I’m going to sit up and pay attention. Nothing is going to get me more excited as a fan than a rebuke of all things fancy and an all-American embrace of all things fun, loud, and brash. “We don’t come from royalty; we come from bootleggers and barn-builders.” Hell yeah, brother! You can say that again.
There’s a lot going on in this marketing campaign. Here’s an abridged list of everything in the ad that caught my attention: Clint Eastwood’s son Scott running from Jonny Law in a new Mustang; big smokey burnouts from Ford, Toyota, and Chevrolet sports cars; homages to classic American Cinema favorites “Top Gun” and “Friday;” and a cameo from NFL superstar Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch. What more could you ask for? Aboard a new Ford Mustang Dark Horse, Eastwood does a lurid tire-shredding burnout exiting an airplane hangar before running from the cops alongside one of those shine-running bootleggers that built the sport brick by brick.
Well, I suppose we could ask for competitive racing, a points system that makes sense, a tight championship battle, and an exciting broadcast.
Bootleggers built the sport
Playing the part of the protagonist of this ad spot, as well as its narrator, is actor Scott Eastwood. You might recognize him from the screen in his role as Little Nobody in the Fast & Furious franchise. He’s used as visual shorthand here for action and excitement, fitting with the rest of the ad’s theme.
“America’s forefathers didn’t throw tea in the harbor so they could sit quietly on rooftops and drink champagne,” the ad begins. “They did it so we could be loud. So we could be free.” With the recent stratospheric growth of Formula One, this is pointed at NASCAR’s main competition for racing fans right now.
Returning to the now, Eastwood gives an iconic Tom Cruise–style fist-in-the-air salute before tearing off to inspire some of the best NASCAR drivers to let their inner hooligan come out to play. Bubba Wallace gives Marshawn a wild ride. Kyle Larson rips donuts around his wife while she shotguns a Coca Cola Classic. The aforementioned flamethrowers are lit.
The ad ends with some terrible computer generated action as the Mustang jumps off a freeway overpass to join the stock car pack on track and rip past the camera. It definitely looks dumb, but somehow the fakeness increases the hype.
“You want perfect turns and polite applause? You know where to find it. But if you want dust and dented fenders and a place to let loose, we’ve got a seat waiting for you. Coolers full. No dress code and no velvet ropes. With your people. Heart racing. Strapped in, screaming your damned lungs out.”
Hell yeah! Here’s hoping that NASCAR really turns up the heat this year.
