Safety Campaign at the Daytona 500

CSX was onsite at the 50th Anniversary of the Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, FL, from February 14th - 17th. The sponsorship featured a Keep on Living tent on the grounds of the track, with Keep on Living floppy hats, stickers and race kits distributed to more than 11,000 of the 250,000 fans who attended.

The campaign was also supported by racing legend, Bobby Allison, who promoted rail safety for CSX after helping the company launch the program at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama in 2007. Allison celebrated both the 30-year anniversary of his second win at Daytona and the 20-year anniversary of his historic 1-2 finish with his son Davey.

Allison spent more than three hours greeting fans in the CSX booth at the outskirts of the track on race day and signed hundreds of autographs. CSX volunteers handed out bright orange Keep on Living hats. By race time, more than 11,000 racing enthusiasts were sporting the orange caps in the stands. Media coverage was extensive, with Fox's 'Fox and Friends' and ESPN's 'First Take,' among others, picking up the Keep on Living coverage.

Fans of first-time winner Ryan Newman were delighted to see him blaze over the finish, with the help of a push from teammate Kurt Busch. But along with fans, vendors and NASCAR itself, CSX and its public safety campaign could also claim victory.

"Keep on Living and our association with NASCAR are helping us raise visibility of the crossing safety theme in a way that we never could through individual public safety presentations," said Cliff Stayton, CSX director of public safety awareness. "Between the roughly 250,000 present at the race and millions watching on TV, you almost can't miss reaching many who might try to beat a train."