Owners defend future of sport
Daytona sells out for second straight year
daytona beach, fla.» Joe Gibbs joined the list of heavy hitters defending NASCAR during one of its shakiest periods in decades.
The owner of powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing said NASCAR has a bright future and noted top-level companies would not participate if the sport was a sinking ship.
“You don’t get the biggest and best companies in America involved in our sport, and going as hard as they are and re-upping and signing unless you’ve got a sport that brings value to the table,” Gibbs said Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
The season opens Sunday with the Daytona 500, the showcase piece of NASCAR’s 11-month schedule. In the buildup to this version of the Super Bowl, NASCAR has been under scrutiny for its leadership, a new sponsor that is mostly using models to market the series, and a new format that gives longtime fans another chance to scream in angst against gimmicks.
An article in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week spotlighted all of NASCAR’s concerns, which range from a decreased and aging audience to the cut rate Monster Energy is paying for entitlement rights. The industry hit back with a sponsorship extension through 2023 between Team Penske, Shell-Pennzoil and Joey Logano, as well as an extension for Gibbs with FedEx and Denny Hamlin .
And, less than 24 hours before the start of the Daytona 500, speedway officials announced that 101,500 reserved stadium tickets have sold out for the second straight year. The news wasn’t all rosy, though. Nature’s Bakery filed a counterclaim two days before the Daytona 500 to the $31 million breach of contract suit StewartHaas Racing leveled over a severed relationship with Danica Patrick’s primary sponsor. One of the smallest companies to take on a primary role in the Cup Series, Nature’s Bakery was to pay $15 million a year for three years to have Patrick promote its fig bars and brownies.
Nature’s Bakery alleges SHR took advantage of its naiveté in the sponsorship world and the company was led to believe it should expect four times the return for sponsoring Patrick’s car. Nature’s Bakery accuses the team of misrepresenting the strong health of NASCAR.
Roger Penske, like Gibbs, remained positive Saturday about the current direction of NASCAR. Penske thinks the new format in which the race will be divided into three segments, the new talent, and the downsizing of race tracks will help NASCAR. He also believes NASCAR is being unfairly targeted.
“It’s not just in our sport; the NFL was down ... and no one is talking about that, so I think we need to move on and talk about the racing,” Penske said. “There are a lot of young kids coming up in this sport. We’ve got great sponsors, and certainly the TV guys have connected with the drivers and the car owners on this format, the rule changes, and I think we’ve just got to go racing.”