TNT Races Toward its 2010 NASCAR programming

Turner Network Television (TNT) announced today that it has joined forces with Hall of Fame rockers AC/DC to feature the band’s single “T.N.T" as the network’s theme song for its 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series coverage. The song will serve as the primary musical bed for all six of TNT’s races, which begin with the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 presented by Target on Sunday, June 6 in Pocono, Pa., as well as for the network’s multiplatform marketing campaign surrounding its exclusive race coverage, which includes a presence on social media, print outlets, national television, local radio and print. The song has been rereleased on the band’s latest album, AC/DC: Iron Man 2 which features 15 of the band’s classic songs.

The network’s full-length NASCAR video featuring “T.N.T." will make its television debut on Tuesday, May 25 during TNT’s exclusive coverage of Game #4 of the Western Conference Finals on the Emmy-award winning Inside the NBA post-game show. Additionally, the video will be available for view on Turner-operated NASCAR.COM at: http://www.nascar.com/tnt/

It was a natural fit to incorporate AC/DC’s legendary “T.N.T." to our on-air product and marketing campaign, given how much the music reflects the same excitement and intensity as the sport of NASCAR and the NASCAR on TNT telecasts," said Christina Miller, senior vice president of Turner Sports strategy/marketing/promotions.

Turner Sports will also unveil for its 2010 NASCAR on TNT Summer Series the “TNT Million Dollar Fan Challenge," a weekly event on NASCAR.COM that allows fans the opportunity to win up to $1 million each week of TNT’s coverage. Fans will have the chance to select the drivers they think will be the top 10 finishers in each race. Should a fan correctly select the top ten finishing drivers all in their proper finishing order, the fan could win up to $1 million (if more than one fan selects the correct finishing lineup, they will equally share the million dollar prize). The game will open for upcoming races on the Wednesday after each previous raceday and will not close until 25% of the present week’s race is complete, allowing participants to change their line-ups for a portion of the race. Fans have six chances to win as they can pick the top 10 finishers for all six of TNT’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

The additional multiplatform assets of TNT’s NASCAR marketing campaign will include prominent online promotion on NASCAR.COM and Yahoo! NASCAR as well as video ads on the social media site Facebook, print advertisements in USA Today and NASCAR Illustrated, sports talk radio DJ endorsements, spot radio advertisements in select markets, a national satellite buy among various networks and spot television ads during regional sporting events and across the Turner-owned networks including TNT, TBS, CNN and truTV.

Beginning on June 6th with the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 presented by Target in Pocono, Pa., TNT revs up for six consecutive races of exclusive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series coverage including NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Racing from Michigan (June 13), the Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma, Calif. (June 20), NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Racing from New Hampshire (June 27), and primetime Saturday night races with the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona powered by Coca-Cola (July 3) and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Racing from Chicago (July 10).

Previous musical pairings with Turner Sports for its sports programming include The Rolling Stones (NASCAR), Buckcherry (NASCAR), Hinder (NASCAR), Bon Jovi (MLB), Jamie Foxx and Justin Timberlake (NBA Playoffs), Usher (NBA All-Star), Jay-Z (NBA), Kevin Rudolf (NBA Playoffs), Pharrell (NBA All-Star), Britney Spears (NBA All-Star), Fort Minor (NBA Playoffs), and many others.