“Better Than Fox”: Fans Cut NASCAR Some Slack After Major Board Addition

NASCAR is looking to grow on the success of its first Netflix series, NASCAR: Full Speed, and has hired a specialist to oversee its original content. In a bid to further promote the sport, NASCAR announced award-winning content executive, John Dahl, as the new SVP of content. The former ESPN executive has worked on a range of successful projects and will look to put his expertise to use in promoting NASCAR’s content.

He had a decorated career at ESPN, where he climbed the ranks from a coordinating producer to VP and Executive Producer for special projects and original content. However, a major layoff wave saw Dahl and several senior staffers being relieved from their roles, and thus an opportunity to collaborate with NASCAR opened for him.

Here’s why John Dahl’s appointment is a big deal for NASCAR

Dahl was one of the original executive producers of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series. Notably, he is also credited for his work on the critically acclaimed Emmy-winning docuseries, The Last Dance. The series revolves around 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan’s final championship season with the Chicago Bulls. He also worked on other documentary series such as the NBA’s 75th anniversary and the 150th anniversary of College Football.

Tim Clark, NASCAR SVP and Chief Digital Officer expressed his excitement about onboarding Dhal. “NASCAR has an incredible opportunity to continue fueling its positive momentum with powerful storytelling that brings fans closer to everything that makes this sport so compelling, and there’s no one more proven or better equipped to deliver on that potential than John Dahl. We’re thrilled to welcome John aboard and can’t wait for fans to experience everything he and his extremely talented NASCAR teammates have to offer,” Clark was quoted via Jayski.

With excitement, Dahl said, “Over the course of my career, I’ve been fortunate to experience firsthand NASCAR’s rich reservoir of characters and storylines, from the people behind the wheel all the way to the tracks and fans themselves. I’m excited to help build on the foundation of extraordinary content being created in and around NASCAR to give fans more reasons to engage, whether that comes in a TikTok video, a documentary project or anything in between.”

Reacting to the new addition, fans were quick to share their views and even started demanding new projects.

Fans react to John Dahl’s addition to NASCAR as content lead

Taking a direct jibe at FOX’s mediocre coverage of the races and events, a fan was pleased to see NASCAR make some good moves to promote their content. “Even if it’s small addition, it will be better than Fox’s”.

Not at all pleased with the giants of broadcasting companies, another fan tore into both FOX and ESPN, stating, “Because the only thing worse than fox’s coverage in the same time frame is ESPN as a company…”

Already making assumptions regarding the upcoming project, a fan was quick to suggest a storyline that John Dahl should start working on. “So excited for the 10 part docu-series on Timmy Hill.”

Appreciating the move by NASCAR, a user was excited about the prospect of new documentaries. “Wow!!! This is a seriously HUGE pickup for NASCAR’s Digital Media team. Now, let the epic NASCAR documentaries begin!!!”

Given the body of work John Dahl has delivered working with ESPN, it will be interesting to see how he changes the narrative of NASCAR as a sporting giant.

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