North American stock-car racing series Nascar has extended its sponsorship deal with Nationwide Insurance through to 2017, with the company set to end its title sponsorship of the second-tier Nationwide Series to focus on the organisation’s showpiece Sprint Cup Series.
Nationwide will continue as the official auto, home, life and business insurance partner of Nascar.
The insurer, in its sixth year of a seven-year agreement as title sponsor of the Nationwide Series, will move from its series entitlement sponsorship and focus its Nascar marketing programmes on the Sprint Cup Series beginning in 2015.
Steve Phelps, Nascar’s chief marketing officer, said: “The company has been highly successful in using our sport as a platform to enhance its brand and drive its business and has stated publicly how much value they glean as a series sponsor. The fact that Nationwide will continue its investment across our sport – in a variety of ways and for many years to come – is encouraging and speaks to the power of Nascar as a marketing platform.”
The insurer began its 15-year motorsports history as a hospitality sponsor with targeted race tracks and progressed to the official insurance partner of Nascar and the title sponsor for the United States’ No.2 motorsport series.
Under the terms of the new deal, Nationwide will also sponsor the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award. The Nascar Foundation presents the award to a Nascar fan who embodies the ideals of charity and community that France has championed throughout her life.