Academics

Penn State students partner with Centre Daily Times to cover NASCAR race

Four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon drove his car on the University Park campus in April to promote the June race and partnership between his sponsor Axalta and Penn State. Credit: Steve Sampsell / Penn StateCreative Commons

A “non-traditional classroom” might not get any more non-traditional, or loud, than Pocono Raceway -- the 2.5-mile, triangle-shaped super speedway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

Four Penn State students working as part of a partnership with the Centre Daily Times this weekend might have little time to slow down or hear the noise, though. The quartet, structured as a student-driven news bureau through the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State, will be providing coverage of the June 7 NASCAR race and related activities at the speedway.

The engaged scholarship opportunity provides an unrivaled experience for students in the College of Communications whose work will be available to Centre Daily Times readers online and in print.

“The spectacle of NASCAR races stand out in American sports to both fans and journalists, and it’s great to give our students a chance to do some real-time professional reporting in that atmosphere,” said John Affleck, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society and director of the Curley Center. “The center always aims to equip students with the tools they will need to succeed. A weekend at the Pocono track will be a real development opportunity.”

Students representing the Curley Center at Pocono are:

-- Jeff Jezewski, a journalism major from Nanticoke, Pennsylvania;

-- Matt Mayer, a journalism major from Commack, New York;

-- Nick Thomas, a journalism major from Pennsville, New Jersey; and

-- Roger Van Scyoc, a media studies graduate student, from Palmyra, Pennsylvania.

​Affleck, who coordinated numerous special assignments for The Associated Press during his two decades with that news organization before joining Penn State in 2013, conceived the news bureau approach and has worked with the CDT to develop a plan to provide timely coverage of the race. Curley Center students have completed similar assignments in the past for the Croke Park Classic (a Penn State football game in Ireland) in 2014 as well as the Summer Olympics in London, the Bowl Championship Series title game and the Final Four.

The June 5-7 opportunity for communications students comes as a part of a larger partnership between race sponsor Axalta and Penn State. The June 7 race, the Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400, features four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon driving a No. 24 Chevrolet with a blue-and-white Penn State paint scheme. Nearly 100 Penn State engineering and marketing students will spend the weekend participating in information sessions and shadowing professionals in their fields from both Axalta and Gordon’s race team, Hendrick Motorsports.

Gordon previously announced his retirement from full-time racing after this season, making the June 7 race, potentially, his next-to-last appearance a Pocono Raceway. He has won six races at the speedway, the most of any NASCAR driver in history.

The Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 begins at 1 p.m. June 7 and will be televised by Fox Sports 1. It can also be heard on Motor Racing Network radio affiliates across the country. 

Last Updated June 2, 2021