Quaker State to sponsor Mark Martin for 4 races; Jeff Gordon won’t have Walmart
HAMPTON, Ga. – Rick Hendrick and Mark Martin were able to deliver some good sponsorship news Saturday as they announced that Quaker State had extended its contract with Hendrick Motorsports and would also be the primary sponsor for four races on the Martin car in 2011.
That will help fill a portion of the races that will not be sponsored by GoDaddy.com, which will be on the car for 20 of the 36 events. Carquest will be on the car for eight races next season as well.
While the announcement was a good one for both Martin and Hendrick, there is still work for the team owner to do on the sponsorship front.
Most notably, Hendrick needs to fill a sponsorship gap for Jeff Gordon. Hendrick said Saturday that negotiations with Walmart broke down.
“You talk to a lot of people, and they were someone we talked to,” Hendrick said of discussions with the retail giant. “We got down the road a bit but timing is one of those things – possibly we’ll do something down the road with them but it won’t be next year.”
Hendrick wouldn’t say how many races are left for the Hendrick stable to sell.
“We’ve got a lot of our folks coming back, and I’m not really sure how many we’ve got committed in what area,” Hendrick said. “We’ll be announcing [deals] in the next 60 days. In the past, you would announce midyear but companies are waiting later and later. We plan to have everything done at the end of November.”
Hendrick said the economy is as tough as he’s seen it and nearly every company wants to cut back. That’s what makes Quaker State going on the hood of a car so nice.
“They’ve been on all of the cars [as associates] and now they’ve got the primary races, too,” Hendrick said. “I’ve wanted to see them do it for a long time because I think it’s a good marketing opportunity, not only in the racing but in [my] dealerships, too.”
More companies that are not involved in the sport are looking at NASCAR, Hendrick said.
“It feels better today than it did in the first half of ’09, and that’s encouraging to see. … There are a lot of people talking and things happening,” Hendrick said. “In general, the feeling is much better and people are looking beyond what we’ve been through.
“They’re not looking backwards anymore, they’re looking forward. The economy is still tight and people are still trying to stretch their dollars and we’ve got to be fairly creative to be able to make it work for everyone.”
