The overwhelming influence of sponsors in NASCAR became evident during the recent charter agreement fiasco. Teams would face significant challenges in operating and covering their expenses without the substantial real estate opportunities provided by their cars. But seldom do these sponsors, which are often large enterprises, stick to a single team or driver.
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Dave Alpern explained why in a video posted by the team on their YouTube handle. He went, “Some sponsors within an organization like to be a family of drivers versus one. Interstate Batteries is a great example.
“Interstate for many years was just on our famed No. 18 car. Now, they try to do at least one race with all of our drivers.”
They also have an associate sponsor logo on all of the team’s cars throughout the season. This is just a marketing strategy that the company employs to have visibility during races and associate itself with one particular well-performing team. Other companies don’t necessarily follow this same approach.
Alpern continued, “There are also brands that choose to sponsor multiple times. I think of Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola has a family of different drivers across a bunch of different organizations. Their goal being, they want a winning driver to get out and swig a Coke. The more drivers they have, they feel like that meets their strategy.”
And then, there are companies like Bass Pro Shops. The sporting goods retailer not only sponsors races, but it is also associated with a bunch of different teams. It has strong relationships in the garage with multiple teams and drivers, with a wide reach of sponsorship. The point to be made is that there is no right or wrong in this facet of the sport.
“It kind of just depends on the brand and what their objectives are. But yeah, it’s more common to see one sponsor paired with one driver and car number. But it’s not uncommon to see them spread across multiple cars,” the Joe Gibbs Racing President added.
Race cars are essentially moving billboards for companies, and the ultimate goal is to catch the eye of the passionate fanbase.
Moreover, sponsoring a single car and driver can be a risky gamble. The driver could get injured or perform poorly throughout the season. This would hurt the image of the sponsor heavily and go against their end goal.
