From Bud to Dew?

In the new NASCAR, image is everything. Never has this been as talked about as this season, when the sport’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., announced that he would be leaving his family’s team to drive for Rick Hendrick.

Immediately the speculation began. Would uber-cool sponsor Budweiser follow him to his new home? For a week or so, it looked like it might happen. Then the announcement came that Budweiser would be severing its highly lucrative partnership with Earnhardt and finding another place to hang its hat.

Now, fast forward to the last two or three weeks. Rumors were flying. Was Budweiser going to stay at Dale Earnhardt, Inc. as one of their major sponsors or was it going to find another place to land? While free agent Kyle Busch was looking for a new ride, many speculated he would land at DEI and perhaps become the new face of Budweiser. After all, he’s only 22, and squarely in the demographic Budweiser wants to cultivate. Earnhardt is a relatively ancient 32 now, and he’s eased out of the upper tier of Budweiser’s marketing campaign. Then the talk began that Budweiser might be shifting its megabucks to Gillett Evernham Motorsports’ driver Kasey Kahne.

Kahne has all but acknowledged that the King of Beers will be on his ride next year. With Dodge agreeing to remove some of their signage from their flagship team’s cars, it paves the way for other important sponsors to wrap their names around the Nos. 9, 10 and 19.

Above, I mentioned that Kyle Busch is in the Budweiser demographic. So is Kasey Kahne. I have some advertising and marketing education, and my opinion toward Kasey as the new face of Bud is mixed. On one hand, if you go by demographics alone, Kasey is probably a good deal. As a female in the 25-34 group, I’m supposedly one of Kasey’s biggest fans. Well, let me tell you, Kasey’s baby face is not going to sell me any Bud. Bud would be better suited to whom I consider a “man,” Elliott Sadler. A regular guy with stubble. But of course, he’s also 32 and that takes him out of the demographic running, but more about Sadler later.

Let’s go back to Junior for a moment. All the rumblings seem to say that Junior will be sponsored by a Pepsi-Cola brand, most likely Mountain Dew and its AMP energy drink. Pepsi doesn’t think Junior is too old to hawk its products. Now, free of the beer mantle, he can sell even more merchandise than before. His old fans definitely had no trouble wearing Bud gear, but now the fans Junior will pick up from the Hendrick side might be a little more conservative. Maybe they normally wouldn’t purchase any NASCAR merchandise. But with an innocuous sponsor like Mountain Dew/AMP, they can feel free to wear their guy’s stuff on Casual Friday at the office.

Not only that, but anyone who previously had a qualm about their child wearing Budweiser-branded merchandise won’t have a problem picking up a tee shirt for little Billy and letting him wear it to school. With this partnership, Junior has opened himself up to a whole new section of fans and the possibility for even more merchandise dollars flowing into the souvenir trailers. Junior is set.

I mentioned Elliott Sadler and promised I would come back. You may have heard that there is trouble in Yates/Newman/Hass/Lanigan/Another Name Here-Land. Sponsor trouble. Masterfoods (maker of M&Ms, Snickers, Combos, Pedigree-brand dog food) may be looking to partner up with the former Candyman once again.

When Sadler left the former RYR in mid-2006, one of the most well-known and well-liked sponsor/driver combinations was severed. Sadler openly talked about how he liked being the Candyman. Kids could easily pick out the bright, splashy car, and from what I understand there were always M&Ms to be handed out. The affable driver found a good match with Masterfoods. The company was easygoing enough to contemplate a special Talladega paint scheme a few years ago. The idea? Turn the wrap “upside down” so that when Sadler took one of his almost inevitable flying spins through the infield, he’d be landing “right side up” when he landed on his roof.

With the problems in the YNHL camp, Masterfoods is reportedly unhappy and perhaps looking to sign with Sadler again. What’s the stumbling block? Seems that Robert Yates had a stipulation in Sadler’s contract that if he left the team, he could not be sponsored by another Masterfoods sponsor until after the conclusion of the 2008 season.

We know that NASCAR contracts are made to be broken, and it would not surprise me if Sadler was piloting a Masterfoods-branded car next year. In addition, CitiFinancial, another Yates sponsor, was also rumored to be moving its allegiance to the No. 19 team, possibly as a primary or associate sponsor. Sadler drove the No. 90 CitiFinancial Busch entry for Yates on occasion, and still has a personal services contract with them.

It will definitely be an interesting year at the Gillett Evernham Motorsports complex. If they can acquire two of the most visible sponsors in NASCAR plus benefit from George Gillett’s business acumen, they might just have a chance next year.

It’s been announced this week that Kyle Busch will be going to Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2008 season. Booting J.J. Yeley out of his ride, Busch would be in charge of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries machine. You’ll think I’m crazy when I tell you this. When I first heard about this change, I pictured Yeley in his green fire suit. I don’t know if that neon green is Busch’s color. Aside from the fact that green is considered unlucky by racers, poor Kyle is rather pale of face. I hope Busch gets a little sun before he zips into the green firesuit.

Some people might think that Interstate Batteries is an old sponsor. Who cares about car batteries, unless you need one? Young men in the 18-24 group, that’s who. Maybe they can’t afford a car that is reliable. If their battery goes dead, they think about Busch’s car and remember that Interstate is a good battery. Kyle is the type of young man that other young men relate to – a little awkward, bold, unafraid to speak his mind and definitely not afraid to show some anger and aggression.

In short, I’d like to say that personally I feel all the sponsorship changes mentioned here are good fits, save for Budweiser and Kasey Kahne. I don’t know who Bud could go to, honestly, but if this means Budweiser is going to start making cutesy commercials with Kasey, a là Allstate, I am going to have to change the channel.

Questions and comments can be sent to samanthamaynard@sportsgrumblings.com.