I "Reddit" Somewhere That The Fans Want Josh Wise In The All-Star Race
5/15/2014
Kevin Abraham
I was checking up on the latest news
on Jayski.com and saw where Miss Sprint Cup released the top ten names in alphabetical
order for the top vote getters
for this year’s Sprint All Star race.
The names are as follows per Miss Sprint Cup’s Twitter: #47-A.J.
Allmendinger, #43-Aric Almirola, #9-Marcos Ambrose, #15-Clint Bowyer, #3-Austin
Dillon, #42-Kyle Larson, #13-Casey Mears, #10-Danica Patrick, #17-Ricky
Stenhouse, Jr., and #98-Josh Wise. As I
was reading through the list I was not too surprised with the first nine names
on this list, as they are either fan favorites, or have resources behind them
to compete for a win at certain races.
However when I read the last name on the top ten list, it blew me
away. That name? Josh Wise.
I thought to myself: How in the
world is Josh Wise one of the top ten vote getters to win the Sprint All Star
vote? He is driving for a team that is
known more for starting and parking than for contending for the win in a race.
Since this really was intriguing to me, I did further research and found that
social media especially the online community of Reddit was fueling his rise
towards the top of the Sprint All Star Fan Votes. Below is the research I did to find out how
Josh Wise was in the top ten of the Sprint All Star vote earners. The
first thing I did was go to Josh Wise’s Twitter account for leads on how this
could be occurring. Here is where I saw
that the Reddit community has come out in full force to vote the Dogecoin car
into the Sprint All Star race. I then went back to Jayski.com and saw that Wise
was entered to drive the Dogecoin car in the Sprint Showdown, which is the last
chance for a driver to qualify for the Sprint All Star race. Between seeing what I had saw on Twitter, and
what I had seen on Jayski, I figured that the Reddit community was behind the
rise of Josh Wise in the Sprint All Star vote .
This is partly due to the sponsorship of Dogecoin on the No. 98 car at Talladega
opening a whole new audience to NASCAR: the fans of the internet site
Reddit. Even though I am not personally
a Reddit reader, I know many that are, and they are very passionate about Reddit and the items that are posted on there. That passion
could be seen as they raised the money to sponsor Wise at Talladega which was
67,500,000 dogecoins (Approximately $55,000 US Dollars). The
sponsorship of Dogecoin also allowed Wise to get TV time on the racing TV
shows, along with coverage in the race of this underdog team. The team ended up finishing the race in 20th
position, on the lead lap. Considering
many top drivers were involved in accidents this is a great accomplishment for
this underfunded team, to be able to bring the car back to the shop in one
piece. This also showed that this
underfunded team could compete with the teams with unlimited resources if it
had the proper funding. The
excitement of the Reddit community for the Dogecoin car has not wavered since Talladega. Their next goal is to vote in Josh Wise into
the Sprint All Star Race. Considering
that Wise is competing against Danica Patrick, Austin Dillon, Clint Bowyer
among others for fan vote, it looks like it will be an insurmountable hurdle
for this small team. However with the
power of social media (especially Reddit), this hurdle is not impossible to
overcome. What are YOUR thoughts on
this? Can the Reddit community single
handily gather enough votes for Josh Wise to win the Sprint All Star votes and
make his first Sprint All Star race? Or
will one of the more popular drivers walk away with the most votes? Please share your thoughts below and remember
to go vote for your favorite driver for the Sprint All Star Race at NASCAR.com/SprintFanVote .