Sponsorship woes stretch even to Junior's own team

When the most popular driver in the Sprint Cup Series finds himself fighting sponsorship woes, it's yet another disturbing sign of the tough economic times pervading NASCAR these days.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who doubles as an owner on the Nationwide circuit, lost the primary sponsor for the No. 88 Chevrolet owned by JR Motorsports and driven by Brad Keselowski. The sponsor, the U.S. Navy, will finish out the season but announced earlier in the week that it would not continue the sponsorship arrangement beyond that.

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... it appears they've [Navy] looked over this past season and their future, and the money that it takes to be involved in this sport, and they're looking at another opportunity to do something with that money for the betterment of their recruitment program.
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DALE EARNHARDT JR."It's a unique situation because the team, I feel, is pretty successful," said Earnhardt of the No. 88 operation that went into Friday's Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland Speedway ranked second in points. "The relationship, I feel, is successful. We had a pretty good time this year with the recruitment program that we had, and will go to graduation for all those cadets in a couple of months. We got to do a lot of cool things with the Navy during our relationship; we've seen a lot of great things; met a lot of great people. All the sailors and whatnot, it was quite fun."

Fun, but obviously too expensive from the Navy's standpoint. Or perhaps it is not that simple, when one is talking about the various military sponsorships that are prevalent in NASCAR.

On the Sprint Cup side, Earnhardt's own No. 88 is sponsored by the National Guard along with AMP Energy drink; the U.S. Army sponsors the No. 8 Chevrolet that is driven by Mark Martin and Aric Almirola; and the U.S. Air Force sponsors the No. 21 Ford that will be driven in Saturday's LifeLock.com 400 by Bill Elliott.

Earnhardt pointed out that he found himself caught in a unique situation in that the car he was driving on the Cup side for Hendrick Motorsports was sponsored in part by one branch of the service, the U.S. National Guard; and then the car he owned on the Nationwide side was sponsored by the U.S. Navy.

"The relationship between the Navy and the [National] Guard was really good this year. I was curious to see how that would work out, and they worked together on a lot of programs this year," Earnhardt said. "It just seems like when you work with a corporate sponsor on the ownership side, you sort of see things that you don't see as a driver. The sponsors are constantly evaluating their positions, even though they may be in a good position -- to be successful you always have to know what your competition is doing and you always have to look in other areas where you might better be able to make a profit."

Except in the case of the Navy, and other military branches, the profit reaped isn't necessarily measured in the same manner as other corporate sponsors which look for the kind of return on their investment that eventually will show up in company ledgers.

"The Navy's deal is about recruitment; they want people to come in and join the Navy," Earnhardt said. "They need to put themselves where they think that will be most effective. And it appears they've looked over this past season and their future, and the money that it takes to be involved in this sport, and they're looking at another opportunity to do something with that money for the betterment of their recruitment program.

"When you're working with the military, it's not necessarily the same as working with corporate America. The whole relationship is different, really, in how your appearances are; everything is different. So I'm not really surprised at how -- with what their goal is -- that they would make a change even when things are going good. I wish 'em well, and I think that my experience with them was a great learning experience for me."


Military marketing
When it comes to military sponsorships in NASCAR, it's not a product the branches are pushing but rather a lifestyle.

Earnhardt applauded the Navy for helping him develop JR Motorsports into a strong Nationwide entity that now enjoys a partnership with Hendrick Motorsports.

"JR Motorsports wouldn't be able to afford to race without 'em," Earnhardt said. "We wouldn't have been able to afford to grow and do the things we've done without 'em. I don't think we would have reached the point where we could have merged with Rick [Hendrick] without the Navy. So none of this would have ever been happening.

"I don't know for sure that an upstart team like ours would have been able to find a comparable replacement [earlier]. They were the ones who actually came up with the idea to create the team, and I've got to thank them for it."

Earnhardt said it's too early to say what sponsor might step up to replace the Navy on the No. 88 Nationwide team next season. But he said that he's reasonably confident an adequate replacement can be found in due time, pointing out that the process is only just beginning.

Others aren't so sure what the future holds for Earnhardt's team or several others searching for future sponsorship at the moment both at the Nationwide and Sprint Cup levels.

"It's lean; it's very lean," said Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing that will switch to Caterpillar as its primary sponsor beginning next season. "I'm not aware of a new major sponsor coming in, and I am aware of a few that are leaving. That means that it's going to be tough.

"The economy is down. We've seen this picture before -- in '01 or '02, maybe it was. We certainly saw something that looks similar to this where the economy was really good, then it fell and we saw a lack of involvement [by potential sponsors]. ... I see something similar to that. I see less full-time teams involved next year. I may be wrong about that -- but I know teams are unsponsored and I have a hard way of understanding how they can exist without sponsorship."