Roush Fenway moving Jamie McMurray's sponsorship to Matt Kenseth's team for 2010
Roush Fenway Racing will transfer the Crown Royal sponsorship from Jamie McMurray's No. 26 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team to Matt Kenseth's No. 17 team. // SceneDaily Illustration, David Griffin - NASCAR Scene
Jamie McMurray’s Crown Royal sponsorship will move to Matt Kenseth’s No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing team in 2010 while the organization hopes to move the No. 26 team to RFR affiliate Yates Racing, RFR president Geoff Smith said in a news release Tuesday.
Crown Royal, owned by Diageo, will sponsor Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford in 18 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races next year. Crown Royal partially replaces DeWalt, which announced last week it would not return next year.
"I worked with Diageo’s Smirnoff Ice brand back in 2003 and we developed a great relationship,” Kenseth said in a news release. “They were a part of our championship season and we were able to take part in a lot of really cool promotions and events to promote messages associated with responsible drinking.
In 2005, Crown Royal entered the sport as sponsor of Roush’s No. 97 team and in 2006 became sponsor of McMurray and the No. 26 team.
“With the conclusion of the contract arrangement with Crown Royal, Roush Fenway Racing’s Sprint Cup driver lineup will see Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and David Ragan joining Kenseth to round out our four approved entries,” Smith said in the news release. “We are still hoping to be able to transfer the No. 26 team, intact, to Yates Racing in order to keep everyone employed and racing within the Ford community."
Smith said in an interview Sunday that he would like to keep McMurray in the Ford camp but currently does not have sponsorship for him. He told McMurray that if he could find something else, he needed to protect his career.
Financial terms of the sponsorship were not announced.
