U2 and NASCAR: The most unexpected team-up ever

If you were watching the NFL playoffs this weekend, you got a taste of a peculiar bit of music-and-sports synergy: U2’s "Bad" played against a montage of Daytona 500 clips. Here, check it out:

First impressions? To begin, that’s a hell of a song, one that could make images of raking leaves or doing your taxes seem heroic. And it meshes perfectly with the slo-mo montage of Petty, Earnhardt and Johnson, though I could have done without Darrell Waltrip’s goofball dancing. More importantly, it’s not the typical twangy-guitar come-on-down-for-a-lil’-racin’-party soundtrack that NASCAR so often gets saddled with. Will it bring in new viewers? Who knows, but it’s a nice job of broadening Daytona’s reach while still respecting its history.

I eagerly await the sequel, featuring shots of Dale Earnhardt Jr. driving to the tune of "I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For."

(Hey, is that our first shot at Junior in 2010? Clip and save that one!)

U2 and NASCAR: The most unexpected team-up ever