Team sponsors?

Question

If Kevin Harvick has to cover the Shell logos on his uniform because SUNOCO says so; will Tony Stewart have to cover his entire (Home Depot) car at a track like Lowe’s Motor Speedway? How about the Ford 400, will they still allow Chevy to display the bowtie logo as they dominate the track?


Lighten up NASCAR!

Answer 1

I'm not too sure if you are making a point or if these are actual questions, but I can tell you that the Kevin Harvick situation only applies to the major series sponsorship companies (Nextel/Sprint, Sunoco, etc.) that cover the entire season and provide materials/services for all teams on the circuit, not individual tracks or destinations.

Here are a few other examples:
Jeff Burton and the #31 Cingular Wireless car. While Cingular is now AT&T, they cannot change because Nextel sponsors the entire series and does not want to promote their competition.

Jeff Burton is sponsored at some races by Holiday Inn. While Best Western is the official hotel of Nascar, not all drivers are required to stay there. Therefore they are not an official series sponsor and do not have exclusive rights under their contract.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. drives the Budweiser car. While Budweiser is the official Beer of Nascar, you still have Kurt Busch in the Miller Lite car and David Stremme in the Coors Light vehicle.

It's really all a mess since Nascar is run by sponsorships and a lot of it doesn't make much sense (just like their inspection process). However, it's all based on the dollars a company is willing to spend and how much they want to pay for exclusivity.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Good point.AT&T the parent company of Cingular,is persuing a lawsuit to allow the new AT&T logo on Jeff Burtons car.
The difference between Lowes and the Home depot sponsorship is that both are "the home improvement store of NASCAR".
The bottom line is money.And if a company pays enough then they will controll.
The shell flap comes from the fact that Penzoil is to be the main sponsor and that the Shell Oil brand is what is being advertised not Shell brand gas,but more people know Shell for gas than for oil products so when the shell logo shows people theink Shell gas instead of Sunoco.
That's all I have to say about that.

Answer 3

The problem with Harvick is that Sunoco has payed a lot of money to be "the official fuel of NASCAR." To protect them, NASCAR will not allow any fuel company to be a major sponsor (their motor-oil is OK). It is the same with Cingular and Alltel. NEXTEL paid the big money, so there can not be any new wireless company sponsors, and the 31 and 12 have to do special things (like the gray NEXTEL logo on their uniforms). NASCAR actually made Robby Gordon take Motorolla off his car today (it was to be the primary sponsor) since if was a conflict of interest with NEXTEL. Gordon's sponsorship was partially backed by Verizon Wireless, who were not grandfathered in, therefore can not be a sponsor. As for the other scenarios you mentioned, they will not do that. It all has to do with "the Official Sponor" stuff. For example, since Tylenol is now the "Official Pain Reliever of NASCAR", I am sure Goody's, Advil, Excedrine, etc... can be a sponsor.

Answer 4

It's just more inconsistency from NASCAR and their "unwritten rulebook". The rules are unclear for sponsors, just as it is for drivers.

The previous responder is not totally correct about SUNOCO's complaint. Their major complaint is not the "size of the logo" but its proportion to what Shell promised would be its primary sponsored product -- its lubricants (e.g. Pennzoil), not its gasoline. So if it was a big Pennzoil, they wouldn't be complaining as much.

Either way, though, I do agree SUNOCO needs to lighten up.

An interesting tidbit -- when SUNOCO was a sponsor in NASCAR, their logo was so big, it WRAPPED under the hood!! Then the official gasoline was Phillips 66 and gues what ... they didn't complain. NASCAR and the sponsors have become all about the $$. That's why people are calling it CASHCAR or NA$CAR instead.

NEXTEL is not bending with regard to Cingular either, but at least that one was clearly stated years ago. The way Chevy is going this year (and the way Ford is going down!), I think Ford and Dodge may be lucky to see their names in Victory Lane only because they are sponsoring a race, not because their car is there!

Answer 5

No, the only thing Sunoco complained about was the size of the logo on his car, because they are the Official Fuel of Nascar. However the only thing in Nascar that i am aware that a sponsor has complained in competition is Nextel. Being that they are the Title sponsor they are critical of new telephone companies becoming sponsors of cars thus the complaint of AT&T taking over the Cingular brand. All of them are grandfathered in. Its free enterprise my friend dont think that will ever change.

Answer 6

More to the point, lighten up Sunoco and NEXTEL. They're the ones who wanted exclusivity. NASCAR just gave it to them so they could get the sponsorship. IMHO, I feel barring this kind of competition is like telling Jeff, Tony, Mark, Kasey, Carl, Matt & Jimmie that they have to stay home so that Junior can be the only big name on the track. Oddly enough, I don't get the deal with Robbie not being allowed to have Motorola on his car: they're not a Service provider, they manufacture phones. In fact, they build phones for NEXTEL. You figure that would be a good thing in NEXTEL's eyes......

Answer 7

Alot of fans of nascar start out watching because 1.they or their spouse works for a sponsor i.e Lowes,Home depot.2.They are big time consumers of the products of sponsors i.e beer,food,power tools,etc.Alot of potential ticket buyers will either turn up their nose or just never have a reason to get into nascar unless Helton tells sprint and sunoco to revise their contracts to allow competitive sponsors

Answer 8

These conflicts only occur when there are clauses in the sponsor's contracts with NASCAR that restrict the use of the competitors sponsorship rights. It usually happens when someone sponsors a NASCAR series while an individual team is sponsored by a competitor. The clause will eliminate new competitive sponsorship, but allows the continuation of existing sponsorship.

Answer 9

The 2 headed monster of NASCAR (France/Helton) continues to do things that puzzle me. The "chase", the "car of tomorrow", the automatic "last year's car owner freebie", the "make up the rules as we go along" thing, and now this. America thrives on free competition, but NASCAR thinks they are better than this. They should not be stopping any company that wants to pay to put their logo on any car. NASCAR was so much better in the "beer and tobacco" days

Answer 10

I only watched it! My dad watched NASCAR races especially cases and then whilst i became born he made particular he watched each and every race. I actual have been a NASCAR fan ever in view that i became born. whilst i became youthful Dale Jr. became the guy and he became triumphing plenty, so he became my in demand. Then Dale have been given undesirable and by no ability did squat after that. I had to maintain on with somebody else and so I chosen an fairly large driving force who could be a contender for the championship this year. It became Jeff Gordon, he became my in demand for like 4-5 years then he have been given previous. I observed a increasing massive call style and he made his very own team and does a large style of charity stuff. This dude became going to be my in demand! he's??? Tony Stewart. See you do no longer might desire to chosen a winner. Tony does no longer win each and every of the time. the substantial to picking a driving force is a driving force that does a large style of charity stuff and that i driving force who has balls. i think of you will possibly no longer want to %. a driving force that runs interior the lower back each and every of the time. inspite of the incontrovertible fact that it is rather useful to %. a driving force who gets proper 20's a week. approximately twenty 5th place or extra clever. a stable %. could be Carl Edwards or Kurt Busch.