Tag Archives: NASCAR

Budweiser and Harvick Team-Up with Blippar App

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Use the Blippar app to scan this image to begin the Blippar/Budweiser experience

The innovation of the smart phone and phone apps has brought about a variety of unique user experiences. Advertisers are taking advantage of these platforms in a variety of ways. Whether they advertise through apps, iAds, or QR codes, there are a number of ways for companies to get their products to the end user. When advertising meets the smartphone, users are given a unique experience.

Blippar, a smartphone app company based in the UK, has created a unique advertising experience for fans of NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick and Budweiser Racing. When you use the Blippar smartphone app on your iOS or Android device to scan the Budweiser logo or either images on this page, you will enter an exclusive world. As the video illustrates, Blippar uses augmented reality to deliver exclusive content.

Use the Blippar app to scan this image to begin the Blippar/Budweiser experience

Blippar has created a world filled with exclusive content from Budweiser and Richard Childress Racing. After scanning a Budweiser logo or banner, users are presented with a menu (pictured below) with a variety of options. Under “Experience the Bud 29,” users can access a 360 degree view of the Budweiser 29 car or view two exclusive videos from the RCR race shop. When “Away from the Track” is selected, three videos are presented. These videos show Kevin Harvick away from the track racing g0-karts and pulling pranks. The final option of having your picture taken with Harvick is like a number of apps that allows you to insert yourself into an image. Blippar gives users three different picture options – at the bar, at the track, and just hanging out.

Blippar has created a unique form of advertising that goes far beyond QR codes and banners. But Budweiser is not the only company taking advantage of Blippar’s creative advertising. Blippar experiences are also available for Cadbury, Heinz, Kit Kat, Dominos Pizza, Wrigley’s Gum, and several other companies. Blippar’s unique form of advertising may not be mainstream, but it is a unique way for users to interact with their favorite brands and for companies to interact with potential customers.

So, as Kevin Harvick hits the track today at Watkins Glen, grab a Bud, your smartphone, and the Blippar app to enjoy a unique Harvick experience.

Johanna Long Earns Career Best Finish at Daytona

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NASCAR driver Johanna Long scored her Nationwide Series career best finish tonight at the Subway Jalapeno 250 at the Daytona International Speedway. The nineteen-year-old sustained minor damage in a wreck but was able to dodge a few more wrecks and a Green-White-Checker finish to finish 12th. After qualifying 11th, Long worked with a number of driver to stay in the top-25 for the majority of the race. Her strong finish was overshadowed by the wreck of Danica Patrick, but it is certainly a great accomplishment for the entire #70 team.

Congratulations to Johanna and her ML Motorsports team. Keep up the good work and finishes will continue to improve. Johanna will be back in the #70 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 22.

What Kevin Harvick Sees

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This past week, Kevin Harvick and the #29 Budweiser/Rheem/Jimmy Johns team spent a day testing at Virginia International Raceway. During the test, Harvick had a camera mounted to the lower part of his helmet and it gives a unique view inside a NASCAR. In honor of raceday, I hope you enjoy the video.

Johanna Long’s Entry into NASCAR is only the Beginning

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Long (center) and her #70 team

The majority of the NASCAR news in 2012 has focused on Danica Patrick’s full-time run in the Nationwide Series. It is becoming more and more difficult to avoid articles and discussion of her entry into the sport. But there is another driver gaining attention and chances are you have never heard of her. Her name is Johanna Long, and she is also competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Sports Illustrated‘s Tim Tuttle asked in 2010, “Could Johanna Long be NASCAR’s next Danica Patrick?” While the comparisons between Long and Patrick are inevitable, there are some major differences. Long has had a successful career that propelled her into the Nationwide Series. Patrick seems to have chosen to move to the Nationwide Series because her career in IRL was not materializing. While all the focus has been about Patrick, Long has been working to improve as a new driver and as the lone driver for a new race team.

Johanna Long is from Pensacola, Florida and began racing go carts at age 8. A the age of 13, she began to race Legend Cars at Sunny South Speedway in Mobile, Alabama. A year later, Long was racing Pro Late Models. In her second season racing Pro Late Models, Long won a number of races and become the first female, and youngest ever, Pro Late Model track champion at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola. In 2009, still only 16, Long ran a season of 38 races and racked up 5 wins, 18 top five finishes, and 27 top tens leading her to the Blizzard Series Champion in the Super Late Model cars at Five Flags Speedway. Long also made two ARCA series starts in 2009, preparing her for the next level of competition and an introduction to the NASCAR circuit. In 2010, Long won the famed Snowball Derby in Pensacola and made seven starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In 2011, Long ran 17 races in the truck series securing a career best 11th place finish at Texas Motor Speedway.

Long on track in Daytona

In the Nationwide Series in 2012, Long plans to run 21 races for ML Motorsports based in Warsaw, Indiana. The team, owned by Mary Louise Miller, is famous for its cars in the ARCA series, has not completed in the Nationwide Series for a few years. Long’s sponsors for the season include Foretravel Motorcoach, Race Fuel Energy Drink, Keen Parts, Inc., Biomet, Flexaust, and Wish for our Heroes. She is the youngest female driver to compete in the Nationwide Series. As she faces a number of Nationwide Series regulars and Sprint Cup Series drivers, Long has set goals for herself in 2012. Like her 2007 run in the Pro Late Models, this year is about seat time, experience, and patience. In a recent interview, Long expressed this sentiment, “I feel like getting more experience is going to make us better as a team. And we’re going to start getting those better finishes, but I feel it’s all about progression. I feel like if we progress each and every week, it’s going to be a good year. We just gotta keep on doing that. Yeah you want some top-15 finishes, and you wanna do better each weekend, but it’s gonna come.”

As one of two female drivers in the series, Long has been overshadowed by Danica Patrick, but this is actually good for Long and ML Motorsports. As Patrick continues to struggle to adjust to the Nationwide Series, Long and her team can quietly improve each week with the help of former Nationwide Series Champion David Green. So far, she has been very consistant, with an average finish of 23rd after eight races. Johanna’s next race will be June 16 in Michigan.

2012 Stats

I encourage everyone to support Johanna Long. Shop in the ML Motorsports team store, root for her on race day, and let her know you support her. It is not easy to for any driver to make it into NASCAR, but it has been more difficult for female drivers. I believe that Long has the talent and patience to have a successful NASCAR career and will make a profound impact on the sport. As with many small teams, however, ML Motorsports has limited funds and sponsorship, and I would like to see Long run a full Nationwide schedule in 2013. As of right now, it appears her schedule will once again be limited, but as her profile increases, she will attract more sponsorship. Talented drivers are what make NASCAR exciting, and as this young woman continues to prove herself I will be eagerly watching.

Show your support for Long by join her Fan Club, following her Blog, following her on Twitter and liking her Facebook page.

Kevin and DeLana Harvick Expecting First Child

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I was surprised, and perhaps a little disappointed, when Kevin and DeLana Harvick announced they were shutting down their race team, Kevin Harvick Inc., at the end of 2011. The rumors were circulating as to why the couple would make such a sudden decision. Some speculated that the couple were planning to start a family, and they were absolutely right. Yesterday, Kevin Harvick announced that his wife was 14 week pregnant, and their baby is due in July.

“There were a lot of factors that went into the KHI decision, but when your wife tells you she’s not starting a family unless you get out of the race team business, that’s a pretty big factor in things that are going on,” Harvick said. ”You go through different phases of your life,” Harvick continued. “You sit down and do your estate planning and it’s just you and her. There’s nobody to carry on the things that we sat there and built. And how important are a bunch of race cars, 15 years down the road? Not really. It put a lot of things into perspective for us. We did a good job at running the race teams, we were competitive. And I think as you move down the road and I’m done driving, I think you can always fire that back up again.”

Part of Kevin’s decision to close KHI was to refocus on his career and driving the 29 Budweiser Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. With the stress of KHI out of thier lives, Kevin and DeLana can focus on being parents as well. Congratulations to them both!

For all the latest updates, you can follow Kevin and DeLana on Twitter. Or follow Kevin on Facebook.

UPDATE: DeLana is keeping a “Baby Blog.” You can follow the blog here.

Source: NASCAR,

2013 Ford Fusion Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Unveiled

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Just a few weeks ago, Ford unveiled the 2013 Ford Fusion. The Fusion is the current namesake of Ford Racing in NASCAR and when the redesigned Fusion was unveiled in Detroit on January 9, the new NASCAR could not have been far behind. Today, Ford unveiled the 2013 Ford Fusion Sprint Cup NASCAR. Ford says the 2013 Fusion NASCAR is a return to a true “stock car,” meaning that the car looks like the road version. Currently, NASCAR mandates the shape of the car and the fans are bored with the lack of design, but for 2013, they are allowing the manufactures to incorporate designs that are unique to their individual brand. This is exciting for fans of NASCAR and remember when the cars did look different. Over the next several weeks, we will certainly see the new cars from Dodge, Toyota and Chevrolet.

Ford, being the first, gives us an idea what to expect for the Sprint Cup Series in 2013. The Fusion is unmistakably a Fusion in shape and graphics. The flared fenders, the body lines are all very stylish, but will likely be slightly modified before it hits the track in February 2013. Ford is still testing the car and NASCAR will have to approve all the designs prior to competition. However, this model must be fairly close if they are spending the time to unveil it at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The fact that this is a concept is important to bare in mind, but if the car’s shape largely remains intact, and the other manufacturers take as much care with their design, the 2013 NASCAR season could be an important year for NASCAR and the auto manufacturers.

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Source: Ford

Kevin Harvick Inc. to Shut Down

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Kevin Harvick announced this week that the Nationwide Series cars fielded by KHI this year will become part of Richard Childress Racing next season.  That left many fans wondering if KHI would continue in Camping World Truck Series.  In an interview today, Harvick confirmed the truck teams will also cease to exist after this season.  The news has shocked the racing community since KHI has won 39 races and 2 championships in the last nine years.  In the interview Harvick said, “I had to tell all 140 of my employees what was going on. I told them on Wednesday. They will have a chance to get a job at RCR with the merger, but we dont know how many.”  He admits that the hardest part of telling driver of the #33 truck and long-time friend, Ron Hornaday that he would have to find another ride for the 2012 season.

Kevin and DeLana Harvick founded KHI in 2001 and began in the Truck Series.  Slowly, they built up their team and expanded into the Nationwide Series.  KHI has had success in both series, but especially in the Truck series with Hornaday.  A four time Truck series Champion, Hornaday won two of those championships with KHI in 2007 and 2009.  For the 2011 season, KHI fields the #2 Chevrolet driven by a variety of drivers, #8 Chevrolet driven by Nelson Piquet Jr., and the #33 Chevrolet driven by Hornaday.  In the Nationwide Series, the #2 Chevrolet driven by Elliot Sadler and the #33 Chevrolet driven by a variety of drivers.  Bot the #2 and #33 Nationwide cars will move to RCR for the 2012 season.

I have been to KHI two times in the past year and Kevin and DeLana put together a great program.  It is sad to see them go, but as Harvick stated, ”It’s a tough model, business-wise. We’ve scrimped and scraped and got the sponsorship and things that you need, and GM has been a great supporter of everything that we’ve done. But from a business standpoint, sometimes you just have to make the decisions as to what you want to do, and for us it just didn’t make sense.”  Kevin wants to focus more on his Sprint Cup Series career.

Source: NASCAR

A Disloyal Fan

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Going to my first NASCAR race was quite an experience.  Races at Martinsville are always exciting and yesterday’s did not disappoint.  Kevin Harvick won, my first race and my favorite driver wins, and I missed it.  I left early because the crowd was beginning to thin out.  Harvick was running mid-pack at the time.  After I left, Harvick’s team played pit strategy and took only two tires.  This moved Harvick up in the running order.  As he said in Victory Lane, the car came to life!

I am deeply depressed that I missed Harvick’s victory and I plan to go to the Martinsville race in October to make up for it.  Here are a few things I am going to do differently to make my experience better: 1. Different Seating.  I sat in the fourth row off Turn 4 on the front stretch.  The sound of 43ish cars accelerating off the corner for 400 laps has really affected my hearing (temporarily of course).  Which bring me to number 2. Better ear protection. Ear plugs did not keep the sound of the cars from affecting my hearing.  A headset probably would have been better.  3. Strong sunscreen. My arms are burnt to the point of discomfort.  4. Bring a friend.  I went by myself and that was a mistake.  I literally got bored watching the race by myself, but I could not find anyone who wanted to get up early to get there.

So, if you go to a race sit about half way up in the grandstand.  It will be easier on your ears, but you will also be able to see more of the track.  Wear ear protection, I wish I had used better protection.  Wear strong sunscreen because sitting there for approximately 5 hours had taken its toll on my arms, and do not go alone.  It is always more fun to go to events in groups.

I will go to a race again.  I am too big a fan not too, but you can learn from my rookie mistakes.

Here are some of the photos I took, videos coming soon!

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