Ragan, UPS win 2010 Daytona 500 Ad Showcase

Jamie McMurray may have been the surprise champion of the 52nd running of the Daytona 500. Off the track and on the tube, it was David Ragan and UPS, a NASCAR partner known for its consistently entertaining commercials. UPS dominated the fifth annual Daytona 500 Ad Showcase, taking two of the top three spots in a fan vote on NASCAR.COM.

In the winning ad, a UPS delivery man in China wonders if Ragan can navigate the tight streets of Asia. The young driver of the No. 6 Ford zips around the track and through the grandstands in a snazzy, three-wheel UPS delivery truck. He even skids to a stop to spray paint "Ragan Rules" on a poster of Carl Edwards.

David Ragan's spin around China was the most popular ad during the 2010 Daytona 500.

The competition for the best new spot was as close as the frenetic racing in the waning laps of the Great American Race. Hot on UPS's wheels were Coca-Cola's singing drivers, a nearly cuddly Kyle Busch in a pink Toyota driver's suit, and Gillette's Young Guns teaming up for the Gillette 500, an attempt to shave 500 miles of beard.

UPS' commercial bested several instant classics, most notably from Coca-Cola, whose family of drivers have in past ads been famously ogled and chugged the product in good-natured competition. For the first time, after fighting frustrating race cars and drinking a cold Coke on a pit stop, the drivers sang in their race cars, almost on key, led by Tony Stewart belting out, "I'd like to buy the world a home, and furnish it with love."

Many older NASCAR fans recognized those familiar lyrics as the opening bar of Coke's classic "Hilltop" ad, shot in Italy in 1971, the year Stewart was born.

One thing is for sure. If you see a NASCAR driver walking into a karaoke bar, run the other way. In behind-the-scenes footage on YouTube, Coca-Cola Racing Family driver Clint Bowyer says Elliott Sadler is the worst singer, while Denny Hamlin claims Kevin Harvick is so bad he makes Denny sound good. Stewart admits his animals bark like crazy when he sings in the shower.

Toyota created another popular commercial making the top five, this time encouraging fans to design their own paint scheme at ToyotaRacing.com. The spot put Kyle Busch in a pink driver's suit in front of a race car adorned with kittens, bunnies, and baby seals. The message, "I love you," is emblazoned on the spoiler. Which NASCAR fan wouldn't want to see Kyle run that prissy car, designed by a precocious little girl, at a contentious place like Bristol? In the same spot, fellow Toyota wheelman Joey Logano is clad in some sort of mesh medieval warrior outfit with a tinge of Luke Skywalker. His car is painted up in monsters and dragons.

Even pitted against Toyota's visual treats, Jimmie Johnson literally flooring a teenage girl who calls his Sprint phone, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s earnest spot for Hellman's, eating his grandmother's sandwiches, as well as one for Nationwide Insurance, trusted by the Earnhardt family for more than 30 years, Ragan, an affable chap from Unadilla, Ga., was not to be denied as the top vote getter.

For UPS' second high-scoring spot, delivery icons such as the milkman, a newspaper boy, a guy with a pizza, a Chinese takeout deliveryman, a golden Greek messenger, the stork, and Santa Claus stand in frustration outside the NASCAR garage. For the delivery trade, this walled-off sanctuary is only open to UPS, the official delivery company of NASCAR. The odd-ball scene crosses into hilarity when Santa goes off the rails and claws up the chain link fence to get into the garage.

See them all

Watch all the commercials from the 2010 Daytona 500 and see which one is your favorite.

• '10 Daytona 500 Ad Showcase

Following its award-winning "Race the Truck" campaign with Dale Jarrett, the Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., has again come through with new commercials that resonate in a big way with NASCAR fans.

"Each year, the commercials seen during the Daytona 500 form an extraordinary body of creative work," said Norris Scott, managing director of partnership marketing and business solutions for NASCAR. "During the Daytona 500, NASCAR official partners again showed fans and the entire ad world they know how to get their messages across in a highly entertaining way that showcases drivers' unique personalities."

Fans don't have to be exclusively tuned to races or racing shows to see their favorite drivers appear in commercials. Aflac's new "You Don't Know Quack" spot with Edwards and the ever-present duck on a ski slope ran on the Daytona 500 and is also a staple in prime time, including the Winter Olympics.

Usually seen in his Aflac driver's suit, Carl is never identified as a NASCAR driver. Viewers who don't know quack about NASCAR, probably believe the former substitute school teacher is a commercial pitchman rather than an athlete who hangs onto a loose race car careening through treacherous turns at 180 mph. He does a pretty good job explaining Aflac insurance before pushing the screaming duck down the slope.

Almost 30 million people tuned into FOX Sports' coverage of the Daytona 500, including strong gains in places like Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C, Indianapolis, Nashville, Tenn., and Orlando, Fla.

According to a new Nielsen study, advertisers in the Daytona 500 enjoy higher brand recall, and overall "likeability" of their spots. TV ads airing in the Daytona 500 are 26 percent more likely to be recalled by viewers than those who saw the ad run elsewhere, the Nielsen study showed.

In layman's terms, that means David Hill, who runs FOX Sports, can charge even more for ad time next year, and it will be worth every penny for sponsors.

On race day, NASCAR.COM enjoyed more than 10 million page views and set a record with 1,494,374 unique visitors (+7 percent vs. the 2009 Daytona 500). The race was pretty darn good, and those who checked out the new commercials were not disappointed, either.

Andrew Giangola is the author of "The Weekend Starts on Wednesday: True Story of Remarkable NASCAR Fans." Click here to purchase.