The marriage of new media and old-school racing came full circle Monday.
The Mark Martin Podcast — a seven-episodes-old show hosted by the NASCAR Hall of Famer — plans to sponsor Jordan Anderson’s No. 3 team in this Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Texas Motor Speedway. Their partnership, announced last week, took its next step Monday with the 27-year-old owner/driver’s appearance on Martin’s podcast.
“It became incredibly important to me to have Jordan on the show to showcase him,” Martin said in his introductory remarks. “… One of the things that I really enjoy about Jordan is he’s going NASCAR racing the old-school way. He’s seeing the countryside from the windshield of a dualie pickup pulling an enclosed trailer with one truck inside with a couple of helpers, working all day and driving all night and really doing this the old-school way.”
RELATED: Jordan Anderson, the people’s racer (March, 2017)
Anderson’s positive attitude in his underdog journey as a multi-tasking independent — owner, driver, hauler driver, at-track go-fer — has won over fans and fellow drivers alike. Martin said Anderson’s career draws comparisons with his own early days in the sport, when he fought long odds to carve out his place in stock-car racing.
“It’s not always easy,” Anderson told Martin. “We kind of had that ‘Never Give Up’ hashtag going last year, and a lot of times in life whether you’re a race car driver or a school teacher or you’re starting your own business, there’s a lot of times in life when you come to that crossroads and you’ve got to make that decision. You can go the easy path or you go the hard path. You take that hard path sometimes and it includes long days and no sleep and lots of sacrifices, but at the end of the day making those sacrifices, it pays off, allowing you to take that journey.
“Nobody can ever take those stories away from you and the people and friends you meet along the way. Just am always so grateful to do this and to be at this level.”
Anderson’s Mark Martin Podcast-sponsored No. 3 will be on the track in Fort Worth in Friday’s PPG 400 (9 p.m. ET, FS1). The full podcast can be downloaded here.