NEWTON — The Big 12 wasn’t content with just raiding the Pac-12 in 2023. Now, they’re coming for the race tracks.
On Aug. 9, while engines at the Iowa Speedway were screaming around the 7/8 mile oval, the Big 12 logo was screaming right back from the hood of Riley Herbst’s No. 35 Toyota Camry.
Herbst navigated the field from 28th to a 21st-place finish.
Big 12 Conference commissioner Brett Yormark emphasized that the collaboration with Monster Energy is designed to establish the conference’s presence in sports like NASCAR even before the college football season kicks off in September.
“This is a partnership all about Monster taking the Big 12 to places we don’t exist,” Yormark said. “Even before the football season starts, we’re activating the Big 12 Conference and doing so here in a great sport, NASCAR.”
Yormark, who served as NASCAR’s vice president of corporate marketing from 1998 to 2004, returned to the track for the first time in over two decades to oversee the activation.
“It’s been 21 years since I’ve been at a NASCAR race,” Yormark said. “Being back here today on a personal level, but also to speak to the Monster partnership – which has ultimately brought us back here today – is a wonderful thing.”
If you’re going to slap a conference logo on a car, you do it in Iowa State’s backyard. The track is about an hour from Ames, and Yormark noted that the fans definitely noticed the branding.
“I’ve had a lot of the fans come up to me, say hello, excited to see the Big 12 here,” Yormark said. “A lot of Iowa State fans here today. It’s just reaffirming and reinforcing this is Big 12 country.”
Driver Riley Herbst, who has been racing at this track since his national series debut in 2018, was happy to play host.
“We’re in Big 12 country, Iowa State country,” Herbst said. “Happy to have them on the hood. Excited to meet [Yormark] and walk him around the race track.”
Herbst even shared his secret to staying race-ready while representing the high-energy brand, jokingly noting his preference for Zero Sugar Monster to maintain his “summer body.”