It looks like we haven’t seen the last of our heroes in a half shell at NASCAR events. According to several reports, Nickelodeon will once again be working with the brand in order to cross-promote the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The two companies worked together on essentially the same race in 2016. It would appear that both organizations got something out of the arrangement, because they have clearly decided to continue this cross-promotion for another year. This time around, the race will be entitled “Tales of the Turtles 400,” clearly referencing the new title for Nick’s last season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The Tales of the Turtles 400 race will lead off NASCAR’s Monster Energy Cup series at Chicagoland Speedway on September 17th. Chicagoland track president Scott Paddock indicated that Nickelodeon’s involvement in last year’s event brought in more youth than usual, encouraging them to continue this relationship in 2017.
“Brands like Nickelodeon attract a younger audience. We saw impact last year with about a 12 percent increase on kids that came to the race. And what’s really fascinating about the ‘Turtles’ franchise is it’s got cross-generational appeal so it was hot back in the ’90s and (now) you’ve got this whole generation that grew up with it and now their kids are following Nickelodeon.”
Martin Truex Jr. celebrating his victory of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400. Source: NASCAR, Nickelodeon.
Although we don’t yet know who will be sporting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on their cars, it’s very likely that we will see this kind of involvement once again during the Tales of the Turtles 400. You can also expect a lot of turtley awesome family activities during the event, making it even more exciting for fans of all ages. If this race proves just as successful a second time around, we might even see the turtles return once again in 2018 to promote Rise of the TMNT!
Whether or not you like NASCAR, this is definitely good news for the turtles. After all, if their brand remains popular enough to inspire this kind of cross-promotion, there’s no way Nickelodeon is going to stop producing TMNT content any time soon!