Sundays belong to NASCAR now.
The racing series premiered a new ad right after the Super Bowl to kick off the 2026 season that starts with the Daytona 500 on February 15. The commercial features NASCAR’s new Hell Yeah! theme and celebrates its blue collar roots.
“America’s forefathers didn’t throw tea into the harbor so we could sit quietly on rooftops and drink champagne,” actor Scott Eastwood says standing next to a red Ford Mustang to open the spot, in an apparent reference to the hifalutin world of Formula 1. “They did it so we could be loud, so we could be free.”
He then goes racing through the streets talking about NASCAR’s roots in bootlegging and its rough and tumble racing, passing by Marshawn Lynch and Bubba Wallace, who jump into a Toyota Supra to join in with the fun.
“This is NASCAR. Or engines don’t whisper, they roar. You want perfect turns and polite applause, you know where to find it,” he says, in another F1 reference. “But if you want dust, dented fenders, and a place to let loose, we’ve got a seat waiting. Cooler’s full, no dress code, and no velvet ropes.”
Kyle Larson and his wife Katelyn make an appearance with her shotgunning a soda — as she famously does with a beer after he wins races — while he does drifts around her in a Corvette. Carson Hocevar and YouTuber Cleetus McFarland join in the fun with a NASCAR Truck Series truck, shooting fireworks off as it spins through the dirt on a front lawn with the guitar solo from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” jamming in the background.
NASCAR has made several moves to reconnect with its traditional fan base this season, including bringing back The Chase championship format and increasing the power of its Cup Series cars for road courses and oval tracks shorter than 1.5 miles long. It is also replacing the fall race on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s infield Roval with an oval race that will fall within the 10-race Chase postseason schedule.
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