HAMPTON, Ga. – Rick Hendrick sees hopeful signs in the sponsorship game. He hopes that will lead to more dollar signs.
The NASCAR team owner announced Saturday that Quaker State, already an associate sponsor on all four of his cars, is bumping up to a full sponsor on Mark Martin’s No. 5 team for four races in 2011.
While that may not sound like much, Hendrick said it’s a sign that companies are starting to look for marketing opportunities even as the U.S. economy struggles to recover from a recession.
“We’re having a tremendous amount of discussions,” he said. “In the first half of 2009, nobody was talking about anything. Now a lot of people are talking. Things are happening.”
That’s not to say the situation has totally turned.
Hendrick has yet to announce the sponsorship package for four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, though the car owner conceded that talks with Wal-Mart failed to yield a deal.
Even an owner with as much success as Hendrick – his roster of drivers also includes four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson and the popular Dale Earnhardt Jr. – has been forced to scramble for a hodgepodge of sponsorship deals.
Hendrick said he expects to have most of his backing lined up by November, though it’s possible that some cars might be unsponsored for a few races next year.
Watch the champ
Johnson hardly looks like the driver to beat with only two races left before the Chase for the Championship begins.
Not that anybody’s counting him out.
Johnson was ninth in the standings heading into Sunday’s Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but the only driver to win four straight titles has shown there’s no one better when it gets down to the final 10 races.
“They are a contender until they lose one,” Kyle Busch said. “You can’t count them out at all. I know Chad (Knaus, the crew chief) is a very smart individual, and I know Jimmie is a very good race car driver. They will not be dumb when they get to the Chase.”
New business
David Ragan now has his name on more than just the side of the No. 6 car.
Ragan has taken over a Ford dealership in Perry, Ga., not far from his hometown of Unadilla. He won’t be directly involved in David Ragan Ford, leaving that to his father, who’s moving back home and will run the day-to-day operations.
Ragan said he’ll likely return in the next month or two for a formal grand opening. But all the heavy lifting has been done, so to speak.
“I spent the off week moving furniture,” he said.
