MySpace highlights profiles for drivers like Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers, and Denny Hamlin. They also point to a clip of the group, The All-American Rejects in which they issue a challenge to NASCAR to acquire as many fans as they have. That’s a race I will not be attending.

The NASCAR announcement appears to be more of a ploy to create some exposure for MySpace’s broader and growing portfolio of sports offerings. The company points out that it serves as a hub for content for "Action Sports" like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, motocross, BMX, wakeboarding and skiing, as well as baseball, football, and basketball.

The company has partnerships in place with MLB-Advanced Media and the LA Dodgers, and points to MySpace communities set up by Fox sports and the NBA. The sports fan is a demographic that MySpace appears to be trying hard to go after.

Some select programming will NOT be available to app users such as MLB play-by-play, NFL play-by-play, NASCAR Radio, and Howard Stern. (Esentially, all the reasons people have Sirius XM Radio)

With the free app users will be given acess to Oprah Radio, MLB Home Plate, Martha Stewart, Sirius NFL Radio, Opie & Anthony, Jamie Foxx, Blue Collar Comedy, E Street Radio, The Grateful Dead Channel, Eminem’s Shade 45, Jimmy Buffett’s Radio Margaritaville, Elvis Radio, Siriusly Sinatra, Metropolitan Opera Radio and many others.

Mel Karmazin, CEO of Sirius XM, had the following to say about the new app…

"The Sirius XM app allows new and existing subscribers to access great music, talk and sports almost anywhere they go. For millions of users, the best radio on radio is now the best audio content on their iPhone or iPod touch."

The Sirius XM app is available for free from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at iTunes App Store and Sirius XM App site

"As part of our strategy to go deeper into the highest-volume categories and provide the best answer, the first time, every time, we want to be the first place fans search online for NASCAR information," said Ask.com Chief Executive Officer Jim Safka.

Jim Safka
Ask.com Chief Executive Officer

"Through these partnerships, we will break new ground by applying our semantic search technology capabilities to NASCAR-related content while also tapping one of the largest marketing channels in America."

Ask is hoping NASCAR fans will continue to use its search engine for broader searches outside of the arena of auto racing and increase its market share.

The Ask.com search engine for NASCAR is slated to launch on February 15 when the Daytona 500 starts.

NASCAR.com search will be powered by Ask and it will also feature an Ask tool bar.

Ask has plans to introduce around a dozen more vertical search engines this year that will also be sports related along with other topics.

The company will be the primary sponsor of the No.96 Ask Ford in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and is looking at other marketing strategies with NASCAR.
 

Hoops, stock cars, and people named and not named Tiger on the golf course figure prominently in a recently announced deal between Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting and Yahoo. Turner turned away from dealing with another Time Warner web property, AOL, in favor of making Yahoo Sports its partner of choice.

The deal, noted at Broadcasting & Cable, brings Turner’s sports content to Yahoo. Turner will do the heavy lifting on the ad spots available for that content as it is shown on Yahoo, handling video ads along with display and sponsorship advertising.

Yahoo gets to show off what has become an increasingly vital part of its web properties, thanks to what should be impressive and exclusive video from Turner for three popular sports. Over the past year, Yahoo managed to pull off some original sports reporting on running back Reggie Bush and his time at USC, including alleged instances of him receiving additional benefits while wearing the Trojan’s uniform.

Although Yahoo’s future looks a little unclear thanks to the machinations of its investors and the potential of a Microsoft takeover, one might hope the partnership will fuel more sports reporting at the site. The interest in the golf side may suffer a bit as Tiger Woods rehabilitates his ACL instead of hitting powerful drives, but the Nascar and NBA opportunities for advertising could make up for Tiger’s absence from PGA events.

If not, well . . . this is still a major deal deserving of some attention.  The length of the extension alone is notable – John Consoli reports that the partnership should last through 2014.  And we suspect that a large amount of money is involved, but the terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.

Meh.  Guess we’ll just have to return to making fun of things.  One prime target, driving in ovals aside, is Turner.  It seems that a cartoon series was introduced on the Boomerang network on a certain recent holiday.  Odd.  Yet the real problem is that, according to the Turner Pressroom, said holiday was in honor of "Marting Luther King Jr."

Now, to return to the driving in ovals issue, a quote from comic Alonzo Bodden: "I didn’t understand Nascar until I met some Nascar fans.  You talk to a couple of Nascar fans and you’ll see where a shiny car driving in a circle would fascinate them all day.  And I can make fun of Nascar fans, because if they chase me, I just turn right."

Fine, fine, send emails if you must.  But on a final business-related note, Turner first took responsibility for Nascar’s official site in 2001.