With WWE superstar John Cena the official starter for the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 26, his WrestleMania 28 opponent Dwayne The Rock Johnson remains one step ahead of the hardest working man in WWE.

Johnson is the executive producer of “Racing Dreams,” and the award winning documentary makes its national broadcast premiere on PBS’ POV series at 9 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 23. It will also stream on POV’s website Feb. 24-March 24.

Fondly described as “Talladega Nights meets Catcher in the Rye,” Racing Dreams chronicles a year in the life of three tweens who dream of becoming NASCAR drivers.

Annabeth Barnes, Josh Hobson and Brandon Warren race extreme go-karts at speeds of up to 70 mph in the World Karting Association’s Pavement Series, considered the “Little League” of professional racing. The film is a humorous and heartbreaking portrait of racing, young love and family struggle.

“Racing Dreams” is directed by filmmaker Marshall Curry, whose previous POV films have been nominated for Oscars (Street Fight, 2006; If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, 2012).

The film won Best Documentary awards at the Tribeca, Indianapolis and Jacksonville film festivals. DreamWorks Studios is currently developing it into a dramatic feature film, produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek, Cowboys & Aliens, Transformers).

Dany Garcia, who was married to The Rock and is the mother to their daughter Simone Alexandra, is also an executive producer on “Racing Dreams.” A smart business professional and philanthropist, Garcia is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of JDM Partners LLC.

•  About the kids:

Josh Hobson was born and raised just north of Flint, Mich., and started racing when he was 5-years-old. In the film, he has seven Grand National wins and four national championships under his belt and is poised and mature in dealing with sponsors.

Hobson, now 17, is a senior in high school and is hoping to go to college next year. For the past couple of years, he has raced in a full-sized car in the American Speed Association Late Model racing series. In racing, he now has 34 national wins, 10 Grand National wins, 37 state race wins, nine division point championships and 52 Fast Time awards.

He is a straight-A student, president of his school’s student body and captain of the Birch Run High School wrestling team, which is part of the Michigan High School Athletic Association. They won the team regional competition on Feb. 15 and now advance to the team finals.

Annabeth Barnes of Hiddenite, N.C. is a third-generation racer who started in the Naskart Kids class at age 7. By age 11, she was one of the top female racers in the karting world, with 53 poles and 32 wins, several in some of the biggest races in the country. In 2009, she was the youngest person ever selected for NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity. In “Racing Dreams,” she discusses her aspiration to become the first female to win the Daytona 500.

Barnes is now in 11th grade and is racing full sized late-model stock cars against adult drivers. Last year at the Hickory Motor Speedway she had nine top five finishes and one win, finishing fourth in track points for the season. Barnes, now 16, is the subject of the Great American Country television series “Born to Drive,” which follows her and her family at Hickory.

Brandon Warren lives with his grandparents in rural Creedmoor, N.C., in a home filled with racing memorabilia. His grandfather does paint and body repairs for a Hooters Pro-Cup driver, and Warren is not afraid to trade some paint on the track himself.

Warren, now 18, has not raced since the season chronicled in “Racing Dreams” but is considering joining the military when he graduates. In 2010, he was Lieutenant Colonel of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at his high school.

• Visit http://www.pbs.org/pov/racingdreams/.