NASCAR finalizing deal with Nationwide to sponsor No. 2 series
By JENNA FRYER, AP Auto Racing Writer
October 2, 2007
NEW YORK (AP) -- NASCAR was finalizing a deal Tuesday night with Nationwide Insurance to sponsor its No. 2 series beginning in 2008, The Associated Press has learned.
Nationwide will replace Anheuser-Busch, which has sponsored the second-tier Busch Series for 26 seasons but said earlier this year it would end its entitlement deal at the conclusion of this season.
The deal with Nationwide is estimated to be seven years at $10 million a year, according to a person familiar with the negotiations who requested anonymity because the deal had yet to be completed. A-B was paying roughly the same amount, and NASCAR initially had sought an increase in the price of the series.
But despite a flurry of early suitors, NASCAR was unable to secure sponsorship in a search that has stretched nearly 10 months. A deal with Subway appeared to be imminent in August, but never materialized.
That opened the door for Nationwide, which presented an offer late last week. Subway also re-entered the picture, but NASCAR instead moved ahead on Nationwide's offer.
Allstate is the official insurance company of NASCAR, but this new sponsorship deal will likely require Nationwide to take over that role.
NASCAR officials did not immediately return a call for comment.
In January, Nationwide signed a four-year extension with Speedway Motorsports Inc., owner of six NASCAR tracks. The deal called for the insurance company to build fan zone areas at several of SMI properties.
Now, as title sponsor of a series, Nationwide is expected to reach a similar deal with International Speedway Corp. ISC currently has a contract that lists AAA Insurance as the ``Official Auto Club'' of its 11 tracks.
ISC is the publicly traded sister company of NASCAR, and both are owned by the France family.
It's not clear if Nationwide will be required to meet advertising requirements with ESPN, which is in the first year of an eight-year contract to exclusively broadcast the Busch Series. ESPN worked with NASCAR to find a new sponsor for the series, and it was believed that the advertising requirement held up talks with several companies.
It's also not clear what Nationwide will call the series, which has been the Busch Series since A-B took over as title sponsor for what was first known as Late Model Sportsman and later the Grand National Series.
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Nationwide Series Car Will Be "Different" from Sprint Cup Configuration, NASCAR Says
Posted Dec 8th 2007 9:55AM by Geoffrey Miller
Filed under: Busch Series, Car of Tomorrow, Nationwide Series
I read a good line the other day by David Poole of The Charlotte Observer. In one his postseason columns, he made the point that NASCAR needs to be looking out the other window. Instead of looking out of the back of the tower at the business side Poole says, they need to take a glimpse at the track out front.
Doing that, he says, will naturally and positively affect the business side of the sport.
To me, NASCAR looks to be taking a step in that direction, as numerous articles over the past few days have indicated that the NASCAR Nationwide Series -- formerly known as Prince the NASCAR Busch Series -- is going to sport a much different race car in 2009, despite moving to the "NASCAR" (next-generation Car of Tomorrow) body style.
That same body style will be in full-time use for the Sprint Cup series in 2008.
Many complained, including myself, that NASCAR was simply going too far in keeping the two series the same, and not allowing any real definition.
Joe Balash, the director of the Nationwide Series, said that was not the intended plan, and talked about the two cars needing to drive different. The key? Suspension differences.
"We want the car to drive different.We've gone down the path of having two very similar cars and very easily taking the technology that makes the car turn both aerodynamically and with suspension interchange between the garages.
"As we go forward, we want more difference there. We want to have our cars use a more conventional spring setup. We're not going to use the bump-stops on the cars."
That's a nice step -- and there's more.
In addition the suspension differences, Balash also noted that the hood will sit higher and the rear deck lid will be shorter -- mainly because the series will become based on models not used in the Sprint Cup Series.
Manufacturers are still deciding what model to use, though it appears likely Ford will run a Mustang, Chevrolet a Camaro and Dodge a Challenger. Toyota likely will stick to the Camry, sources said.
Sweet.
There's even more, and it was to do with the part of the Sprint Cup car NASCAR fans love/hate the most.
The wing.
From David Poole's blog:
The Nationwide car will be built on the same chassis as the Cup Series car of tomorrow, but the bodies will be different. And, at least right now, the Nationwide cars will have spoilers and not wings
fThat's plenty of changes, and they'll definitely make the cars drive differently But will that keep the Sprint Cup stars from "Nation-whacking" on Saturday's?
Doubt it.
But another possibility of this configuration is that NASCAR will have some new answers if big changes are needed to the Sprint Cup car in the near future.
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Big changes are expected for the Nationwide Series in 2009: the use of the NASCAR-certified chassis and the denial of points for Sprint Cup drivers.
But there's already one big change for 2008: the series sponsor. Nationwide Insurance takes over for Anheuser-Busch, which backed NASCAR's No. 2 series for 26 years.
What does Nationwide have in store?
"We're still working through a lot of those plans," Event Marketing Manager Jim McCoy says. "We have a great relationship with Speedway Motorsports and are going to be very visible and those tracks. We've got a lot of 'On Your Side' programs, trying to make the race experience better, with shuttles, interactive displays and other things at those tracks.
"On a broader scale, we've got some other things we're looking at, with the ultimate goal trying to enhance the race fans' experience at the track or while they're watching it on TV."
Competitors welcome the company, hoping a non-alcohol primary sponsor can open doors that previously couldn't be opened.
"I'm excited about having a series sponsor with less restrictions than an alcohol brand that you can do things around," JTG Racing co-owner Tad Geshickter says. "I've said for a long time we need to define what this series is, create a mission for it - what does it stand for? - and then you can market it a lot of different ways.
"My hope is that NASCAR and Nationwide decide what they want this series to stand for. I've heard a lot of comments about it being Cup Lite. Obviously no one wants it to stand for that. Is it for families who can come out affordably and get their kids involved in the sport? That's hard to do with an alcohol sponsor. But it's something you could do with Nationwide, who is trying to insure families at their stage in their life."
McCoy says Nationwide wants to be involved in the "conversations" with NASCAR over the future of the series, but NASCAR is "going to driving the direction from a competition standpoint."
"At the end of the day, we want the best product on track that the fans are going to be excited about," McCoy says. "Whether that's more Cup drivers, less Cup drivers, I'm not sure. We just want the best series for the fan." Nationwide has experience with a second-tier sports series, sponsoring the Nationwide Tour golf series. That experience, McCoy says, will help the company get adjusted to NASCAR.
"Entitling that was a great first step for Nationwide," McCoy says. "It was our largest sponsorship that we had gotten into. It was a season-long approach to targeting the avoid golfer, the golf fan. A lot of things are similar that we were able to glean and build our activation plans for this property."
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