The Adventures of Digger and Friends

The Adventures of Digger and Friends was a series of vignettes that showed during NASCAR on Fox pre-race shows during the 2009 NASCAR season.

Background
In 2009, Fox Sports announced that "Digger", who had already been a mascot for the corner camera in NASCAR, would be the subject of a series of vignettes that would air during NASCAR on Fox pre-races.

Keith Urban composed a new single for the show, called "Lil' Digger". In an interview, Urban was noticeably happy with creating the song, saying "How could you turn the critter down? I immediately went to my drum machine, then to my guitar, back to my drum machine and on to my banjo and it wasn't long before I had the song. I just hope that Digger likes it."

An animation studio in Romania animated the series.

The character of Digger also made a brief cameo in the 2009 film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel; the character is briefly seen when a lead character's car zooms past him on a busy street, prompting him to joke, "Feels like I'm back at the racetrack!"

Characters

 * Digger (Eric Bauza): A gopher obsessed with NASCAR racing. Frequently causes mischief at the racetrack, causing Lumpy to chase him.
 * Annie (Haley Mancini): Digger's girlfriend.
 * Marbles: Digger's friend.
 * Gramps: Digger's grandpa and a fan of NASCAR since the beginnings of the sport.
 * Lumpy Wheels: A security guard who constantly chases Digger for causing mischief at the track.

Premise
The series follows Digger's life, and adventures in a racetrack with his friend, Marbles, his girlfriend, Annie, his grandpa, Gramps, and a police officer that chases Digger's mischievous acts, Lumpy Wheels, who was named after former Fox Sports president David Hill and former Charlotte Motor Speedway general manager Humpy Wheeler.

Criticism
After a NASCAR town hall-style meeting at the end of May 2009, Fox Sports chair David Hill reported receiving an email from a high-ranking NASCAR official whose identity he chose to conceal, stating that Digger could have been the cause of ratings declines for Fox's NASCAR coverage. (Even though this occurred a few years into a lengthy period of NASCAR television ratings decline that is still ongoing.) Hill said "It was because of Digger that people were turning off in droves because they couldn't stand it, I said, I'm so sorry. If I'd known, I never would have created him. I didn't realize how insidious he was. It's the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard."

The criticism led to Fox Sports slowly phasing out the character in 2010; it was completely removed from their broadcasts by the time the 2012 Subway Fresh Fit 500 aired which was the second race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

NASCAR television ratings continued to decline even after the Digger character was removed from broadcasts.