NASCAR has teamed up with The Rolling Stones for a new promotion built around the band’s upcoming studio album, Foreign Tongues, arriving July 10 through Capitol Records.
Strip away the marketing smoke and the deal is pretty simple. NASCAR and The Rolling Stones are selling the road-trip lifestyle. The campaign includes co-branded apparel, a racing jacket, two limited-edition NASCAR-themed vinyl releases, and a promotional video featuring NASCAR drivers and Cleetus McFarland. The idea is that racing teams and rock bands both spend their lives on the road, hauling equipment from city to city while putting on a show for the crowd.
The centrepiece is the NASCAR x The Rolling Stones “Racing Record Player,” a custom Stones-branded NASCAR show car turned into a mobile listening lounge. Fans in the Chicago area will be able to climb inside the activation and hear music from Foreign Tongues before the album is released.
The show car is scheduled to appear at select locations, including Navy Pier, Plaza of the Americas and the Chicagoland Speedway Fan Zone. NASCAR will race on July 5 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, with a full slate of support series.
It is an odd pairing at first glance, but it works. NASCAR and The Rolling Stones are both loud, road-worn and still rolling after decades in the spotlight. One runs on gasoline. The other runs on guitar riffs. Together, they have built a marketing machine with a tongue logo and a steering wheel.