POSTED: Monday May 18th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TNT Teams with Grammy-nominated Buckcherry to Create Musical Anthem for the Network’s NASCAR Summer Series

The Multi Platinum Rock Band’s “Highway Star” Will be Featured in NASCAR on TNT Telecasts and Marketing Campaign

Turner Network Television (TNT) announced today that it has joined forces with Grammy-nominated rockers Buckcherry to feature the band’s version of Deep Purple’s hit single “Highway Star” as the network’s theme song for its 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series coverage.  The song will serve as the primary musical bed for all six of TNT’s races, as well as for the network’s multiplatform marketing campaign surrounding its exclusive race coverage. 

The network is producing a full-length music video of ‘Highway Star’ performed by Buckcherry that will debut exclusively on the Turner-operated Web site NASCAR.COM on Wednesday, May 20.  The video will make its television debut the same day during TNT’s exclusive coverage of Game #1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on the Emmy-award winning Inside the NBA post-game show. Additionally, the track will be available for purchase as part of Buckcherry’s Black Butterfly on iTunes beginning on June 16th. As part of the initiative, Buckcherry will perform live at Daytona International Speedway, appearing on TNT’s prerace coverage of the Coke Zero 400 on Saturday, July 4.

For a sneak preview of the spot, click here:  http://www.nascar.com/promos/buckcherry

Previous musical pairings with Turner Sports for its sports programming include The Rolling Stones (NASCAR), Hinder (NASCAR), Bon Jovi (MLB), Jay-Z (NBA), Kevin Rudolf (NBA Playoffs), Pharrell (NBA All-Star Game), Britney Spears (NBA All-Star), Fort Minor (NBA Playoffs), and many others.

 “Buckcherry’s ‘Highway Star’ is the perfect theme song to capture the excitement and intensity of NASCAR racing and will be a consistent sound throughout TNT’s NASCAR Summer Series telecasts,” said Craig Barry, senior vice president/creative director of Turner Sports.  “Turner Sports has a track record of collaborating with talented artists to produce original creative that brands our sports properties and resonates with sports fans. Over the years we have been able to amass an impressive portfolio that includes some of the biggest artists in the music industry, and Buckcherry, with their high energy and unique sound, is a great addition.” 

“We are big fans of Turner Sports, specifically their NASCAR coverage.  We are stoked to be chosen as the featured band of the season.  ‘Highway Star’ is a killer rock song and the video we made for it is bigger and badder than anything we have done before.  We are looking forward to working with Turner as the campaign runs on TV, radio and online and to getting to the race in Daytona during a break in our touring this summer,” says Buckcherry’s frontman Josh Todd. 

In addition to the full-length video available on NASCAR.COM, Turner will produce several shorter spots in 30, 60 and/or 90-second lengths, as well as a three-minute version cut with NASCAR action highlights to serve as the feature NASCAR on TNT on-air promo.  It will also be used in 60-second radio spots in select markets and the full version will air in more than 400 Cinedigm movie theatres across the country.  The video will be hosted on the NASCAR on TNT microsite on NASCAR.COM, which will feature a section on the band including their behind-the-scenes photos, tour schedule and bios, along with extensive NASCAR on TNT content such as announcer bios, schedule, and photos. Content will also be featured on the band’s online assets.

Buckcherry experienced great commercial success with their first Billboard Hot 100 and Pop 100 top-ten hit “Sorry” from their Grammy-nominated album 15.  In 2008, Buckcherry released Black Butterfly which features the single “Rescue Me,” a current top-twenty hit on the Billboard Rock and Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks.   To gear up for their next single, “Talk To Me,” Buckcherry is inviting their fans to submit videos of themselves lip-synching to the song.  The footage will be compiled and edited together into the official music video to debut in June (for more details, please visit www.Buckcherry.com).

Beginning on June 7th in Pocono, Pa. TNT revs up for six consecutive races of exclusive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series coverage including races in Michigan (June 14), Sonoma (June 21), Loudon (June 28), and primetime Saturday night races in Daytona (July 4) and Chicago (July 11). 

Dubbed the Next Great American Rock Band, the multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated Buckcherry are co-headlining arenas nationwide in support of their fourth album, Black Butterfly, which was named iTunes Rock Album of the Year and has produced three multi-format hits including “Don’t Go Away” and “Rescue Me.”  “Rescue Me” came about after lead singer Josh Todd read Dave Pelzer’s book, A Child Called “It”, about a horrific case of child abuse in California. Todd says of A Child Called “It,” “there were times when I had to put the book down because the abuse of this boy was so bad, but I felt like the book found me… I was compelled to write this song out of inspiration from this guy’s incredible journey.”  “Rescue Me” is currently trending towards the top 10  on the Active Rock and Rock Radio charts and the band have created a PSA to support child abuse awareness and prevention as well as performed a benefit show for the Childhelp Organization.  The band scored its first Top 10 single, “Sorry,” on the Hot 100 Billboard Chart in 2008. The Los Angeles-based band is currently co-headlining a North American arena tour with Avenged Sevenfold, Papa Roach and Saving Abel.

Turner Sports, a division of Turner Broadcasting, Inc., presents some of the best and most popular sporting events worldwide and is a leader in televised and online sports programming.  With events airing on TBS and TNT, Turner Sports’ line-up includes NASCAR and NASCAR.COM, the NBA, Major League Baseball, professional golf, PGATour.com and PGA.com.  Turner Sports and the NBA also jointly manage NBA Digital, which includes NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA League Pass, NBADLeague.com and WNBA.com. 

Turner Network Television (TNT), one of cable’s top-rated networks, is television’s destination for drama and home to such original series as the acclaimed and highly popular detective drama The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick; Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter; Raising the Bar, with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben and Jane Kaczmarek; Leverage, starring Timothy Hutton; HawthoRNe, with Jada Pinkett Smith; and Dark Blue, starring Dylan McDermott.  TNT also presents such powerful dramas as Bones, Cold Case, Law & Order, Without a Trace, ER and Charmed; broadcast premiere movies; compelling primetime specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards®; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR and the NBA.  TNT is available in high-definition.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

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CONTACTS:

Megan Bondi                     Turner Sports           404-827-0297            megan.bondi@turner.com

Jill Siegel                     10th Street Ent.                212.334.3160            JillS@10thSt.com

Corey Brewer                    10th Street Ent.                212.334.3160            CoreyB@10thst.com

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Keywords · TNT · NASCAR · 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series · Buckcherry

Name: Jeff Pomeroy
Organization: Turner Sports
Email:
Phone: +1.404-827-4786
URL: http://www.tbs.com/

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