Rock star Cody Hanson doesn't really know much about NASCAR; it's likely the 23-year-old couldn't identify Brian France in a lineup of two.

What he does know is that the sport is huge and its love affair with rock and roll is even bigger.

"It's like the biggest thing on the planet right now," said Hanson, drummer for the post-grunge rock band Hinder, who last year broke out with a chart-topping single called Lips of an Angel and is still on Billboard's Top 40 with Better than Me.

Originally a college band from Oklahoma playing for anyone with ears, Hinder is making its first foray into NASCAR with its rendition of Born to Be Wild. The song will be TNT's music used to promote coverage of the network's six Nextel Cup Series races (WATCH THE NEW VIDEO), much like the way FOX tapped rock stars Aerosmith with front man Steven Tyler.

The marriage of NASCAR and mainstream music is top of mind for industry players constantly looking to attract the next generation of NASCAR fans. Hinder, with its edgy 80s-influence sound, is the bait.

The band wants to bring rock and roll -- in its purest form -- back in favor with music fans. Right now, hip-hop and rap are the dominant genres on the pop charts. Dale Earnhardt Jr. seems to be a big fan. He has a cameo with rap mogul Jay-Z and a commercial with T.I.

Hinder is hoping to benefit from some of the crossover love amongst the NASCAR fan base.

And Hanson might even be willing to buy tickets to the next NASCAR race if it keeps him from living in the RV again eating Easy Mac.

After four years of random gigs, Hanson and the band realized it was time to make a move.

Knowing they would never get record label recognition in Oklahoma City, Hinder took out a $50,000 loan and traveled to Vancouver in an RV.

"We stocked up on food and I remember for a month, I ate like one pack of Easy Mac a day and just drank beer. I lost like 25 pounds," Hanson said.

One independent record deal and lots of radio play later, Hinder got a call from Turner Sports to remake Born to Be Wild and shoot an accompanying rock video promoting NASCAR on TNT.

Hanson, who admitted he wasn't too crazy about the song at first, said it was the quintessential rock video, "a video the band always wanted to do but never had the chance to."

Muscle cars, gorgeous women and pyrotechnics are all words Hanson used to describe the scene set inside an abandoned warehouse with Shelby GTs, a Chevelle SS and a Camaro with a crazy paint job.

"In certain parts, cars are doing donuts around us three feet away peeling up the floor," he said. "It was a fast day of drinking, lots of rum and having lots of fun. It's an all-American rock video, everything you would imagine from a rock video."

And the song: "Once we got in the studio and laid it down, new life came to the song."

The band took away some of the keyboard and added a ripping guitar solo and raised the tempo. The rock-and-roll lyrics remain the same.

If the jam makes channel surfers stop and take note than mission accomplished, according to NASCAR.

"NASCAR is unlike stick and ball sports. Kids don't grow up 'playing' NASCAR. There are no NASCAR teams in schools. Kids don't play NASCAR in the street ... So we have to do unique and creative things to attract the next generation of fans, like a film with Will Ferrell or joining up with a band like Hinder," said Andrew Giangola, director of business communications for NASCAR. "It's a win-win: fans of these artists will sample our sport, while the NASCAR faithful checks out the records and films of the artists feeling a need for speed."

Last season, Bon Jovi performed during the pre-race show at the Daytona 500. The Red Hot Chili Peppers played an in-race concert at the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge the same week multi-platinum Stadium Arcadium was released and rose to the top of the charts. Later in the season, Barenaked Ladies launched their new CD with a concert at the Chevy Rock and Roll 400.