Best Buy leaning toward moving sponsorship to Matt Kenseth
Matt Kenseth needs a sponsor for 2012, and he is the favorite to land the Best Buy sponsorship // LaDon George, NASCAR Illustrated
Roush Fenway Racing and Matt Kenseth appear to be well on their way to securing the Best Buy sponsorship for 2012, according to sources familiar with the situation.
The Roush organization has pledged to run Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion, without sponsorship but has been working hard to find funding for the driver coming off a three-win season where he placed fourth in the Cup standings. Kenseth’s primary sponsor Crown Royal opted not to sponsor a race team in 2012.
Best Buy’s sponsorship of AJ Allmendinger at Richard Petty Motorsports was for 24 races in 2011.
With Best Buy heading to Kenseth unless the deal unexpectedly falls through, that leaves RPM looking for sponsorship for the No. 43 car for next season.
RPM has interest in the now-available Kurt Busch, who was released by Penske Racing last week. It’s likely sponsorship could dictate whether it can hire Busch or sticks with Allmendinger, who had the best season of his career in 2011 with a 15th-place finish in the points and is under contract for next season.
RPM has not announced any sponsorship for the No. 43 car for next season. An RPM spokesman said the team would have no comment on its sponsorship search.
