UPROXX christened this weekend one of the greatest in the history of sports. Five Game 7s in the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs action, Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana, the Kentucky Derby … hell, even WWE Extreme Rules. But only one sports moment truly mattered this weekend: Josh Wise’s 20th place finish at the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway in a car with Doge on it.
Reddit can be a force for good or evil at a whim, seemingly, but if you’re going to exercise that kind of massive, cultural pull, do it by putting a meme on a NASCAR. We are one step closer to a world where an MMA fighter rocks Forever Alone on his shorts.
Via NBC Sports:
Afterwards on Reddit’s Dogecoin page, reaction was overwhelmingly positive. One poster, Super_Bob, hailed the result as a success and asked users to give Wise and the small Phil Parsons Racing team a “high paw” – a nod to DogeCoin’s canine mascot, ‘Doge’ the Shiba Inu – for their efforts.
“The race started with 43 cars, think about how many of those 43 teams that are not one of the top big money brands (Lowe’s, KFC, GoDaddy, etc.) that got that kind of camera + announcer attention and an explanation of what the sponsor was about, hardly any,” he wrote.
“This was viewed millions around the country. Josh was in the lead pack for several laps and was noticed and mentioned more than once by the announcers, this was great exposure for us and curious people will do exactly what we wanted: Learn what Dogecoin is.”
Wow.
Wise enjoyed his experience in the car, and I wish he would’ve summed it up with “much driving.”
“It’s been so cool because having a crowd-funded car like that, we had a lot of excited people that contributed,” Wise said. “And also people that are part of Dogecoin and the Reddit community … For a small team like us and for myself as a driver who’s really trying to break out in the sport, it’s been just a really awesome opportunity.”
Wise said he now has become a regular on Reddit, engaging with fans and others. Now, some of them are helping with another uphill battle to get Wise into Sprint Cup’s All-Star Race on May 17. Fans get to vote one driver into the race.
In case we never see it again, here’s your full look at the Dogecoin car. So design.
Never forget.
