B&H Publishing Group author Billy Mauldin has been named spiritual adviser to season 13 contestants of American Idol. Mauldin, president and CEO of Motor Racing Outreach and co-author of The Race: Living Life on Track (B&H Books), will offer spiritual counsel and support for contestants under the high-stakes pressure of competition, just like he has for the NASCAR community for more than a decade.

The Race—written in conjunction with Darrell Waltrip, NASCAR Hall-of-Famer and lead NASCAR FOX Sports analyst, and Kyle Froman, Motor Racing Outreach director of development—shares lessons learned in the racing pits and among the NASCAR community. The Race aims to help others with their personal mission by helping readers prepare for it, receive it and live faithfully on mission. It is these same concepts Mauldin hopes to share with the contestants of American Idol.

“From working with NASCAR, I understand the pressures that these contestants are facing,” Mauldin said, who will be on-hand in Los Angeles for the entire American Idol season with his wife, Julie. “I will be there to provide spiritual support and counsel to the contestants who are going through one of the most intense competitions they will ever face.”

The idea to bring on Mauldin as spiritual advisor came from David Hill, the former FOX Sports chairman who has been overseeing an American Idol overhaul. Hill noticed many of the contestants got their start singing in the church choir and were brought up in spiritual homes, so he thought Mauldin would be the perfect person to encourage the contestants—many who are in their teens and away from family for the first time—as they go through the competition.

Since 1999, Mauldin has provided counsel and guidance for drivers in some of the most emotional, pressure-filled times of their lives: right before they race. He has served as chaplain for various racing series, including the Unlimited Hydroplane Racing series, American Motorcycle Association, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide series.

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