Chevrolet hopes thinner NASCAR budget will still result in wins and sales
General Motors is the manufacturer with the most cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and as it awaits word on a loan from the federal government, its leadership is in a wait-and-see mode as far as the impact on its NASCAR program.
But the company does know the impact of NASCAR on its customers.
“Thirty-three million Chevy owners are NASCAR fans – it’s huge,” Ed Peper, GM North America Vice President of Chevrolet, said Wednesday in a phone interview. “That’s a very important base of customers that we need to continue to appeal to.”
Peper said that the percentage of the NASCAR budget has been cut “in double digits” but the company hopes to remain a strong presence in the sport.
“As I mentioned at the NASCAR banquet, we are in the fight of our lives right now, and everything we can do that helps us get more revenue and also improve our cash flow, that’s what we’re interested in doing,” Peper said.
The cuts have come across both the on-track and off-track expenses of the NASCAR program.
“We have been cutting a lot of things,” Peper said. “We’re not standing here with the same budgets we’ve been running with the last several years. We’re cutting a lot of track contracts. We renegotiated a lot of items with different teams and we’ve taken some marketing expenses out.
“We’re really, really focused right now. We’re watching every dollar we spend and it's got to go toward developing more revenue and selling more vehicles.”
Peper said Chevrolet hopes to still be involved with Daytona International Speedway but not as much as in the past with its track sponsorship deal.
“We are still talking with those guys and trying to figure something out,” Peper said. “We still think it’s a great race. But you can only pay so much.”
And how much Chevrolet can pay could change. Awaiting word from The White House on a loan to the company, Peper said he could not predict what will happen or what type of federal oversight there would be on the NASCAR program. He did not know if Chevrolet would be given a marketing budget to spend how it pleases or if each item in the budget will be scrutinized.
With Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet has 14 cars expected to run full time in Cup next year. Chevrolet has had one of its drivers win the Cup title the last four years.
“Jimmie Johnson and his comeback to win the championship this year is much the same as what we’re trying to do right now. … We’re scrappy, just like our teams and our drivers,” Peper said.
The drivers have pledged their help in this situation.
"We're the ones that have paid the teams and the drivers, and yet the drivers are the ones calling us saying, 'What can we do to help sell more vehicles?'" Peper said.
