A news conference today at Daytona USA is expected to turn the NASCAR world upside down. According to unnamed sources, Brian France called an emergency meeting late last night after reading an article on Bleacher Report.
“I have worked with our advisors throughout the night and hammered out a plan that will forever change NASCAR,” France said. “Seeing how easy it was for Rick Hendrick to pick up a sponsor based solely on a single race event, it gave me the idea that more sponsors would come forward given the right environment.”
Hendrick struck a deal with Crayola Crayons to sponsor Dale Earnhardt Jr. in California, because of Earnhardt having trouble staying inside the lines at Daytona.
“Starting with the 2010 race season, NASCAR will handle all team sponsorships directly through our marketing department," France said. “All potential sponsors will deal directly with the sanctioning body, we will negotiate all contracts and control every aspect of whom that sponsor works with. Teams will be issued a sponsor at the beginning of the season either through a lottery, or, in rare cases, based on certain events of the previous season."
France seemed to be armed with examples.
“Here are a few examples,” France said, “This year Dale Jr. is sponsored by Amp Energy Drink. Suppose he has a really bad season. Next year, his sponsor would be Kleenex.
“Tony Stewart feels he is being screwed every week by Goodyear, so his sponsor next year will be Trojan Condoms.”
Before the meeting ended, a flurry of sponsors, including Sylvan Learning Centers (expected to sponsor Kyle Busch) and Norelco (expected to sponsor Jimmie Johnson) had committed orally.
Creative marketing in these tough economic times is crucial to sponsorship dollars. France feels that team owners are not capitalizing on this strategy in a way that is geared more towards the NASCAR family.
“Carl Edwards is sponsored by AFLAC,” said France. “Carl is a very healthy driver who doesn’t need the services of AFLAC. Next year, AFLAC will sponsor a driver who was hurt the previous year, or down on his luck from an injury, like Steve Park, for example.”
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