Ever since Tony Stewart – known as ‘Smoke” “ badly broke his leg in an August sprint car crash, his fans have flooded social media with the #SmokeWillRise hashtag. It turns out their appetite for his return goes beyond just tweeting. NASCAR will announce today that Stewart won a competition fueled by social media to appear on the cover of next years NASCAR 14 video game, dominating the competition in each round of its ‘Drive For The Cover” contest. Stewart, who is expected to return in time for the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, beat Jeff Gordon in the final round with 69% of the vote. He had the highest vote total in all five rounds of the bracket-style competition and never had less than 64% in any matchup. That Stewart won wasnt a huge surprise – Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasnt eligible for the contest after appearing on last years cover – but that he prevailed by such a large margin was notable. Even more impressive was how Stewart accomplished the feat without having a personal presence on social media (though his publicists run a Facebook page with more than 600,000 likes and a Twitter account “ @StewartHaasRcng – with 150,000 followers).( USA Today )(12-3-2013) UPDATE: Tony Stewart fans have spoken, and theyve made it clear that they cannot wait to see the driver of the #14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevy back on the track, even if it is on the cover of a video game. NASCAR announced today that fans worldwide have cast more than 700,000 votes in the ‘Drive for the Cover” campaign, ultimately selecting three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Stewart to appear on the cover of NASCAR 14. Stewart has appeared on the cover of the officially licensed NASCAR game twice before, but this is the first time he was selected by fans. It was clear early on that Stewart was going to be hard to defeat. During the five-week contest, conducted entirely on Facebook, Stewart dominated each round of the competition. Stewarts closest opposition came in the final round against another fan favorite, four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. Stewart accumulated nearly one-fifth of all the votes cast during the ‘Drive for the Cover campaign.(NASCAR)
