DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Strapping a NASCAR-branded cooler and a massive spoiler to a go-kart could seem like an unexpected move. Yet, it fits naturally into NASCAR's approach to the 2026 season.
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Those in charge just want to get back to celebrating what makes the sport cool. Filling a cooler with Busch Light and mounting it to a go-kart fits this criteria.
"NASCAR is a damn good time at the end of the day," Tyler Hoke, senior director of Brand Marketing at NASCAR, told FanBuzz after an afternoon ripping the NASCOOLER around the back parking lots of Daytona International Speedway.
Wait, how does creating the NASCOOLER achieve this goal? The short answer is that it's a billboard you can drive.
The #NASCooler is pretty sweet.
I tried telling the Thunderbirds that I wanted to be fast and cool like them.
I got a sticker. pic.twitter.com/WLZsdjPenQ— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) February 14, 2026
"We thought that NASCOOLER would be a great way to just do something really fun and stunty, but also fits really well within that positioning," Hoke said.
"So the underlying kind of tone is also that we're the most accessible sport. So fans can bring their coolers in. What we like to say is that in every other sport, a cooler is contraband, but in NASCAR, it's a vehicle."
So how exactly did NASCAR bring this project to life? 72andSunny, the ad agency that works with NASCAR, actually turned to a production house from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, known as Guru House.
Guru House also built the World's Loudest Billboard, which featured a full-sized replica Next Gen engine developed in collaboration with ECR Engines and Hendrick Motorsports. This billboard set a Guinness World Records title in Times Square to kick off Daytona 500 week.
In a place like the Big Apple, you need a HELL YEAH to move the needle. pic.twitter.com/Bv7URXzbXo
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 12, 2026
"What we wanted to do was own the week of Daytona 500," Hoke said. "So on Tuesday, we did the World's Loudest Billboard. Then we wanted to follow up with something else that really fit within our kind of new brand refresh."
Of course, this week didn't simply start with the trip to New York City. The refresh also included a new "Hell Yeah" TV spot created by Concept80, one that aired on Super Bowl Sunday.
This spot featured Marshawn Lynch, Cleetus McFarland, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Katelyn Larson, Carson Hocevar, and actor Scott Eastwood. It also had plenty of burnouts, beer, Coca-Cola, and flamethrowers as everyone involved celebrated a good time.
"The thing that I love about this brand refresh is it gives me the license as a marketer to really own who we are as NASCAR," Hoke said. "And really, it's not rocket science.
"What we're doing, we're just celebrating everything that makes NASCAR cool and then blasting that out to everybody in the world."
The NASCOOLER certainly caught the attention of numerous people on Saturday afternoon. Fans, Thunderbirds pilots, and track crews stopped and laughed as the unique vehicle raced through the parking lots. Some took photos to prove they saw this racer in action.
And while NASCOOLER may potentially be the fastest cooler in North America, it's not the final piece of NASCAR's refreshed approach.
The sanctioning body has spent extensive time thinking about how they can celebrate the sport's roots, fire up its current fans, and welcome any and all newcomers.
The point is to cut loose and have some fun. NASCAR doesn't need to be buttoned up or make any political statements.
The "Hell Yeah" campaign, the World's Loudest Billboard, and the NASCOOLER played key roles in this approach, one that will only continue.
"There's going to be more of that to come throughout the year," Hoke said. "Like, those are the type of stunty, fun things that we want to continue doing. And again, it's to get our fans excited.
"But also the kind of the underlying tone of, like, we're a very accessible sport. You're able to bring your own cooler, one of the lowest average ticket prices. Like NASCAR is a damn good time at the end of the day."
