Kevin James (center) stars in the new Netflix series The Crew, featuring guest appearances by ... [+]
Eric Liebowitz/NetflixNascar is finding more creative ways to boost its audience, and the sport is teaming up with Netflix NFLX for a brand-new series that aims to do exactly that.
The Crew, which stars The King of Queens’ Kevin James, will be available on Netflix come Feb. 15, the day after the 63rd running of the Daytona 500. This brand-new series is unlike any other produced about the world of stock car racing, and Nascar believes it can help create an additional core group of fans. Essentially, it will introduce people to Nascar and its drivers with a comical storyline behind it.
“I said, ‘Why Nascar’ when it was brought to me,” James said during a Zoom press conference. “Todd Garner came up with the idea of doing a sitcom about Nascar. I didn’t know how it would work as a comedy. It’s a workplace comedy with family and it’s competitive. Jeff Lowell wrote a script and it came to life so much for me. It’s insane what Nascar is — the sport itself blew me away.”
James plays crew chief Kevin Gibson in the 10-episode series. The character is based off of real-life crew chief Tony Gibson, who won six Nascar Cup Series races, including the 2017 Daytona 500 with Kurt Busch.
In The Crew, James works for Bobby Spencer Racing, which faces an ownership change as team owner Bobby Spencer announces he’s retiring. Spencer’s daughter Catherine, played by Jillian Mueller, is taking over the team and she's attempting to modernize it to compete with the sport’s top teams.
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The show is an introduction to Nascar for many, including some of its cast. Paris Berelc, who plays Jessie, a racer herself who Catherine wants to drive for the team. In real life, she’s an avid Formula 1 fan, but never really watched Nascar until now.
“I’m so happy I got to be this cool, young female racecar driver,” Berelc said. “My character is based off of Natalie Decker and Hailie Deegan. They’re these cool women who are powerful and strong.”
Nascar itself is thrilled to have this series debut as the 2021 season kicks off. The sport is in the middle of a major transition, which includes a push at finding a core millennial fanbase without pushing away older and traditional fans. A series like this could combine the two, James himself believes, by showing respect to the sport rather than making fun of it based on old stereotypes.
“It was about being true to the sport of Nascar, which is great,” the Long Island-born actor, who seldom watched Nascar until now, said. “There have been a lot of comedies about it that have been goofy and that it’s not a sport with guys driving who are crazy drinkers. It’s an insane sport.”
To help put the series together, Gibson visited the set to guide James and help manifest the script to make it realistic. The veteran crew chief would tell The Crew’s writers to change the script, whether it be to correct improper jargon or make the show well-suited for informed race fans.
At one point, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, James went to a race with Gibson to learn more about Nascar. The experience, James explained, helped him understand just how much it takes to make 40 cars compete at the ultimate level.
“I watched them put the car through the lasers and all that to test the measurements,” James said. “People don’t know what goes into this stuff. It’s a world I didn’t know about, but I’m learning more and more about it.
“I’m blown away by this sport. It’s a really exciting platform and people who don’t love Nascar will still love it because it’s about the characters.”
On top of James’ commitment to learning more about the sport, Nascar also invested a significant amount of time, money and resources to make the show a success. Nascar sent a car, tires and parts to the set, with Matt Summers and Tim Clark assisting in the production of The Crew.
“A few years back, we made a strategic decision to get aggressive in developing scripted film and TV projects, and among those was a workplace sitcom concept,” Summers, NASCAR’s managing director of entertainment marketing, said. “We used our existing relationships in the entertainment community to partner with best-in-class producers and writers to bring the idea to life.”
Kevin James, A Nascar Team Owner?
James, when asked about whether he’d ever invest in a Nascar team, didn’t exactly deny considering it in the future.
The thought never really crossed his mind, but seeing the likes of Pitbull with Trackhouse Racing and Michael Jordan with 23XI Racing is certainly bringing plenty of attention to Nascar.
“I would still have to learn more about it,” James said. “First of all, that’s crazy money, isn’t it? It’s exciting, though.”
James then asked how much it would cost to fund a team. When he was told a few million dollars, he opened up his wallet to see how much cash was in it. But he didn’t close the door on possibly investing in a team in the future.
The actor never made a major investment in a sports franchise. But with the hype increasing around The Crew and other celebrities getting involved in the world of stock car racing, it could happen at some point given the right opportunity.
“Is it something where money can do that?” he rhetorically asked. “That’s the great challenge, too, like in all sports with the Mets. The Yankees have the biggest budget. Sometimes, it works and, sometimes, you can buy the best talent but it doesn’t come together. That’s where you need the experience of somebody putting the right guy in at the right time.
“Owning a team? I don’t know. That would be great.”
The Link LonkFebruary 10, 2021 at 07:00PM
https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephwolkin/2021/02/10/nascar-pushes-for-a-fresh-audience-with-netflixs-the-crew-starring-kevin-james/
Nascar Pushes For A Fresh Audience With Netflix’s The Crew Starring Kevin James - Forbes
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