Race For the Championship captures the passion and drama of competition as nearly a dozen of the best drivers and race teams in the world battle week after week in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series. For more than 40 weeks throughout the season, NASCAR Studios crews were embedded with top drivers Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Daniel Suárez, Ross Chastain, and others as they navigated the unrelenting gauntlet of one of the most electric NASCAR seasons in recent memory.With unrivaled access to the personal and professional, our crews documented the emotional and hectic months of competition at the racetrack, at the teams’ headquarters, and at the drivers’ homes. The storyline was unpredictable and constantly changing, forcing production to mobilize and change direction on a moment’s notice. Race For the Championship’s ten-episode run brought viewers a window into the 2022 season in a dynamic and gripping style made possible by the diligent creative work of dozens of cinematographers, audio mixers, producers, and editors. The series also featured an original score, allowing the team to deepen and heighten the emotional stakes of each moment.
It was essential to begin the series with a bang: an open that introduces the audience to the world of NASCAR and its larger-than-life characters in a thrilling and engrossing display of sound, color, and emotion. With a combination of original score and popular music, innovative animation, and sharp editing, the piece grabs the viewer from the start, pulling them into the danger, excitement, rivalries, and triumph that make up a season of NASCAR racing.
More than a dozen cinematographers traversed the country for the better part of a year, capturing the colorful, kinetic, and dynamic world of NASCAR with great clarity, artistry, and heart. The team went everywhere the sport touches: against the wall as cars fly by at 200mph, in the pits documenting the split-seconds between failure and triumph, traveling with the drivers on land and in the air, at home with the families that support the competitors, and even flying through sprawling race shops. From car-mounted cameras, gimbals, drones, to good old-fashioned handheld operating, the Race For the Championship camera team faced a number of challenges and used a wide variety of means to get the shot. Every shoot day offered new challenges and the need to change direction to follow the story and tell it in a bold, visuals-first manner. The challenge was there to develop and maintain a consistent look across eleven months of production as well as to document and tell the story of the NASCAR season with an eye towards creativity and storytelling. The challenge was met, and all goals and expectations were exceeded by a world-class camera crew all season long.
