NASCAR fans were not impressed with the new promotional clip FOX Sports released for the upcoming Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway. It was similar to the network’s last week’s clip for Las Vegas.
Fox released an updated version of its short clip of the No. 22 Ford Mustang doing a burnout, which seems to feature several mismatched design elements. Fans on social media questioned the network’s use of AI instead of real racing footage.
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Many pointed out that the car appeared to have a mix of parts from several different NASCAR generations and multiple other visual inconsistencies. A fan account listed all the issues on X:
“Gen 4/5/6/7 all in one car. Not the current Mustang body. Spoiler from 2001. Autotrader 22 on the quarter is something. Illuminated tail lights, again. Rear wheels different than front, chrome lips too?”
Fans also reacted to the clip and called out Fox for using what they believed was AI-generated footage.
“What a trainwreck,” a fan reacted.
“I love how much effort they’ll put into advertising for Indycar, or literally any of their other shows, then NASCAR gets AI slop,” another commented.
“Hilarious how they finally made progress with no cartoons to just proceed to do worse with AI,” another wrote.
Others questioned why the network did not use existing race footage from when Joey Logano won at Darlington in 2022.
“I’m baffled that it could be that much more difficult to get footage from last year’s Darlington race winning burnout instead of this AI junk,” a fan shared.
“I truly and sincerely don’t understand it. 25 years of their own burnout footage that costs zero dollars to pull from the archive, and no more effort to type out your own ad text than to type shit into an AI prompt,” another comment read.
Criticism is a weekly trend for FOX. Fans have raised similar complaints about AI in several other NASCAR promotions.
“What in the AI is this?” – Fans question FOX for NASCAR’s Las Vegas clip
Earlier this season, fans noticed unrealistic racing scenes and strange car details in a Daytona 500 commercial.
Last week’s promo for the NASCAR Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which featured Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota, raised a similar wave of criticism. Fans pointed out distorted cars, odd lighting, and animation errors that suggested the clip was generated with AI.
“Did NASCAR bring back the COT? Did 23XI Racing bring back Monster? What in the AI is this?” a fan asked.
Meanwhile, the NASCAR race weekend at Darlington Raceway is set to start on March 20 with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at 7:30 pm ET, followed by the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at 5:30 pm ET the following day. And the Cup Series’ Goodyear 400 will begin at 3:00 pm ET on Sunday, March 22.
Edited by Hitesh Nigam