If Jared Leto was at all tired from a two-day road trip that took him from New York City to Fort Worth, it didn't show. The actor and musician stepped out onto the track at Texas Motor Speedway Wednesday morning all smiles, excited to indulge in one of America's favorite pastimes: NASCAR.
Leto is on a cross-country tour this week promoting a new album by his rock band, Thirty Seconds to Mars. It's a fitting, if elaborate, publicity stunt considering the album is titled America.
"The idea started out as hitchhiking across America, but we thought that would end up being boring for a lot of people, except for me. It turned into planes, trains and automobiles," Leto said.
Leto's journey started in New York City on Monday, and continued through Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Chicago before he arrived in Dallas early Wednesday morning and eventually made it to Fort Worth. He plans to hit several more cities as he heads west to Los Angeles, his final destination. The plan is to get there April 6, the day of the album's release.
Leto and his camera crew were "hitchhiking" through North Texas on Wednesday when the celebrity was picked up at a fireworks stand near the speedway by JR Motorsports driver Tyler Reddick. After doing a few doughnuts in a gravel parking lot, they made their way to the race track to take a joyride in a car specially wrapped in a pink shell with details of the Thirty Seconds to Mars release emblazoned on the outside.
"This is what the trip is all about, to experience different sides of America," Leto said as he prepared to get in the car. "This is a classic American pastime, an American sport, a dream for a lot of people."
Reddick hopped through the car window and into the driver's seat first, and Leto followed his lead — one leg, then the other. He slid on a helmet and with a roar of the engine, the two took off around the track.
The car went at least 170 mph, according to Reddick.
The promotional tour, which was free in Fort Worth for fans who knew to go, is something of an encore for Leto. Last summer, he and a camera crew traveled in similar fashion to hear the stories of residents nationwide for a documentary called A Day in the Life of America. It's due out around the Fourth of July.
America the album diverges slightly from Thirty Seconds to Mars' signature prog-rock sound thanks to an unlikely cast of collaborators, including pop darling Halsey, rapper A$AP Rocky and electronic producer Zedd. Still, it's likely to satisfy longtime fans like J.J. Nielsen of Fort Worth, who attended the spectacle at Texas Motor Speedway. To her, the promo tour proves Leto is about the fans, not just making money.
"It shows what a true artist [he] is," Nielsen said. "He's representing America really well."
If there's one thing Leto has learned in his experiences traveling across the U.S., it's that there's more that unifies Americans than divides them — despite the popular perception, he said.
"We want the same things. People want to be safe, they want to live their dreams, they want to be happy, and I find a lot of common ground as I travel the country," he said. "This is a beautiful United States of America. I mean, this is something very special and it's fun to celebrate it."
If you missed Leto this time, he's headed to Austin on Wednesday afternoon. Thirty Seconds to Mars will be back in North Texas for a concert at Dallas' Starplex Pavilion on July 11.
See more pictures of Jared Leto's pit stop in Fort Worth:
