Covering NASCAR is nothing new for WSUA-AM "Radio Caracol 1260" in Miami, the Spanish-language News/Talk station owned by Grupo Latino de Radio (GLR).

Tomás Martínez, general manager of Caracol Radio, says his station's sports programs started incorporating coverage of the auto racing association roughly five years ago.

"We always knew that there were Hispanics that followed NASCAR," says Martínez.

The same can't be said of NASCAR.

In April 2009, the association released its first major national study of Latinos and their overall interest in NASCAR. Of the 1,340 Hispanics queried, 38 percent said they are at least "casual" fans of NASCAR. But, just 7 percent said they were "very interested" or avid fans of auto racing (HispanicSportsBusiness archives 4/10/2009).

The study also found that Latino NASCAR fans didn't have a favorite driver, and that being Hispanic was secondary to following a winning driver.

The successful 2009 season for Colombian race car driver Juan Pablo Montoya will likely change that belief the next time those fans participate in a poll.

Montoya's NASCAR performance has improved dramatically from 2007, his first full season since making a highly publicized shift in June 2006 from Formula 1 auto racing. In 2007, Montoya's average finish was 23rd - giving him $4.82 million in earnings. Thus far in the 2009 season, Montoya's average finish was 14th - resulting in $5.17 million in earnings.

On November 15, Montoya finished eighth at Phoenix International Raceway - his best-ever performance at the track. With the result, he's just four points behind fifth-place racer Tony Stewart going into Homestead.

With such a stellar season for Montoya, NASCAR stepped up its promotional efforts in luring South Florida's Spanish-speakers down to Homestead to cheer on the Miami resident.

"Up until this year we had not seen an interest in a marketing execution or buy with our station from NASCAR," Martínez says.

Roughly two months ago, Montoya was still in contention to challenge Jimmie Johnson for the NASCAR lead. Martínez got a call from Miami-based Media Counselors, the media buying agency working on behalf of Homestead-Miami Speedway on the NASCAR event.

NASCAR and the speedway had come up with a $42 ticket special - in recognition of Montoya's No. 42 driver number - for Latinos in South Florida who wanted to follow him.

Caracol took a "leadership role" in promoting the discounted tickets and this weekend's event, including conducting interviews with Montoya and his wife, Connie Freydell.

The response to the ticket promotion proved to be tremendous for NASCAR and Homestead-Miami Speedway, says Martínez; speedway representatives said it was NASCAR policy not to reveal specific sales figures prior to this weekend's events.

Call volumes to Caracol ticket giveaways, held on Saturdays and Sundays in October and November, have spiked, Martínez says. Ticket winners were asked various questions pertaining to NASCAR.

"People know about this sport," he says of Caracol listeners. "We have educated listeners who follow auto racing."

The radio station is also doing its part in making the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final more than just a sporting event.

"We see this as a community event," Martínez says. "This is the culmination of a whole season of racing, and it's in our backyard."

To help lure listeners that may not be sports fans, Caracol's general-interest entertainment-focused afternoon program "De Regreso a Casa" will be broadcasting live today from the speedway. Playing up the festive atmosphere set to take place this weekend, with Colombians en masse cheering on their compatriot, will be a key focus of the on-air discussion.

Caracol is not airing lap-by-lap coverage of the NASCAR finale; it does not have access to the rights, and doing so in Spanish would be a herculean effort. Instead, the Sunday afternoon "Carrusel Deportivo" sports talk program will offer regular live updates from Homestead.

"As far as I can recall, in this marketplace, I can't think of anything as aggressive as this year's efforts from NASCAR," Martínez notes.

Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president of corporate communications, says the presence of Montoya is wholly responsible for the uptick in Hispanic promotional activity.

"He is definitely a home run for the sport," says Hunter. "I've been around the sport for 40-plus years, and I've never seen anybody come into the sport like him. There are a heck of a lot more Latinos attending NASCAR events and waving '42' flags than I've even seen before, and that's all because of Juan Pablo Montoya.''