Stewart-Haas Racing to debut 'Talladega Nights' liveries at this weekend's race

The great Ricky Bobby once said, “If you ain’t first, you’re last.” “Talladega Nights” is one of the funniest and most recognizable motorsport movies, and it’s had a notable impact on the way fans, new and old, experience NASCAR. Stewart-Haas Racing is honoring that legacy with a pair of cars featuring sponsors from the movie.

The No. 41 Wonder Bread car will be driven by Ryan Preece, and Chase Briscoe will helm the No. 14 Old Spice car, replicas of Ricky Bobby’s and Cal Naughton Jr.’s cars from the movie. It’s worth noting that the movie cars were Chevys, and Stewart-Haas runs Fords, but that’s a minor detail in an otherwise cool story.

Though not entirely accurate for the movie, the cars will be a great promotional tool for NASCAR.  The racing team’s chief revenue officer, Brian McKinley, said, “’Talladega Nights’ is a cult classic, and Wonder Bread and Old Spice were savvy enough to be on board with the movie from the very beginning. For our sport, it’s the gift that keeps on giving, and it’s given Stewart-Haas Racing a great platform to have some fun and engage with our fans.”

The promo cars aren’t debuting at any old NASCAR race, either. They’re taking to the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama this weekend. The YellaWood 500 will see the 25th-ranked Preece and 30th-ranked Briscoe hoping for better fortunes. Neither has had a particularly stellar season so far, and Briscoe’s performances have been all over the board.

Motorsport crossover promotions aren’t new, but movie liveries are a somewhat novel concept. Teams in racing series like Formula 1 and others frequently opt for branded liveries as throwbacks or nods to sponsors, and NASCAR is no exception. It’d be easy to poke fun at this sort of thing as a commercial cash grab, but we think it’s an entertaining move that should be done more often, especially for racing series that faces increasing competition from open-wheel series like Formula 1 and IndyCar.