Playing musical sponsors pays dividends

By Mike Harper

In 2004, the U.S. Coast Guard enjoyed a win from their Busch Series driver Justin Labonte. The next season, Labonte delivered two top 10 finishes and ended the 2005 season 17^th in the Busch Series standings, trailing series champion Martin Truex Jr., by 1,652 points.

Even though Labonte delivered a race win to the U.S. Coast Guard during his tenure as their driver, this one of five branches of the U.S. armed forces decided to move to a different race team in 2006.

The U.S. Coast Guard joins many other NASCAR sponsors that decided to jump to a different team to improve their position in the sport. In all accounts, the Coast Guard’s move to Richard Childress Racing in 2006 can be viewed as a huge success story. After 28 events this season, the Coast Guard racing team has 19 top five finishes including seven wins. Instead of trailing the Busch Series points leader by more than a thousand points, they lead in the standings by over 600 points.

In my opinion, this must be one of the greatest sponsorship turnarounds in history.

While many sponsors struggle at times to find their footing with winning teams in NASCAR, some will make bold moves to change teams. One sponsor that comes to my mind in the Nextel Cup Series that decided to make a change is the Lowe’s Home Improvement sponsorship.

Lowe’s at one time called Richard Childress Racing home. They sponsored the No. 31 driven by Robby Gordon before moving their sponsorship to Hendrick Motorsports. Today, Lowe’s enjoys greater success with driver Jimmie Johnson and HMS over their days at RCR. It’s another example of how sponsors can find greener fields in someone else’s garage.

Valvoline and M&M’s are other examples of successful moves to other teams in the Nextel Cup Series. In the Busch Series, the Navy is trying their luck by moving to JR Motorsports this season from FitzBradshaw Racing. Also, the Marines have announced that they will be moving their sponsorship next season.

Often we hear from NASCAR owners when drivers are released that this is a performance based business and the driver wasn’t performing. In the case of corporations and their high dollar sponsorships, when they decide to move they’re stating the same exact thing except it’s directed towards the NASCAR owner. In not so kind words, the sponsor is firing the owner.

This brings me to current sponsorships that I see either leaving the sport or moving to a different team in the future. You can’t tell me that Tide is happy with the continued performance of the No. 32 car. I understand their contract is up at the end of this season with PPI Motorsports and I believe they will leave for a more fruitful garden.

Caterpillar is another sponsorship that I believe could find a new racing home at the end of next season. It depends on how Bill Davis Racing does with their new Toyota relationship next season.

The McDonalds sponsorship may find new life in the Nextel Cup Series in the future as their main competitor Burger King hits the Cup level next season with Michael Waltrip Racing.

Kodak announced at the beginning of this season that they would return next season, but will they? Also, Cingular has a decision to make about their name. NASCAR won’t allow them to use AT&T, so what happens with them?

What will happen with the AAA sponsorship with no Mark Martin in the No. 6 and no sign of a bright young driver to take over the wheel? AAA could jump to another car at Roush Racing or jump to a different NASCAR series with Martin.

The National Guard is rumored to jump from Roush Racing to Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 25 car next season. It’s hard to believe that this will be a successful move given the recent history of the No. 25 team, but it worked for Lowe’s.

In my opinion, there’s a history of success from sponsors playing musical chairs and I wouldn’t be surprised to find some owners the victims of sponsorship hopping at the end of this season.

Let’s have some fun! In your opinion, from any time in NASCAR’s history what sponsorship move from one team to another would you consider being the most successful move of them all?