Craftsman to end NASCAR series sponsorship after '08

By Bob Pockrass

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

JASON SMITH / GETTY IMAGES

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Craftsman, which has sponsored NASCAR's truck series since its inception in 1995, plans to pull out as series sponsor following the 2008 season.

Sears, Craftsman's parent company, had most recently renewed its sponsorship in May 2005 in a five-year deal starting in 2006 and running through 2010. The company executed a termination clause in the contract and notified NASCAR of its decision "months ago," said Scott Howard, manager of marketing partnerships for Sears.

"It really came down to a business decision and kind of a change in strategy," Howard said. "I can say it's been a great relationship. The series has obviously grown since its inception. If it wasn't a good relationship, we wouldn't have been involved this long."

Craftsman, which has sponsor status as the official tools of NASCAR, could remain in the sport in some capacity, Howard said, but he declined to talk about how it would remain in the sport and whether it would do so with the Craftsman or Sears brands.

NASCAR is no stranger at having to look for a series sponsor, having embarked on a lengthy search in 2007 to replace Busch with Nationwide for its No. 2 series.

"We're going to have a new sponsor come 2009," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Tuesday morning. "We're really optimistic. This is an incredibly great series with a rock-solid fan base and great competition, so we think that there is going to be a number of sponsors that will be interested in signing up.

"And, of course, you can't say enough about Craftsman about what they've meant to this series in giving it its identity in terms of toughness and reliability."

NASCAR will begin its search for a new sponsor immediately, but Poston wouldn't put a timetable on when in 2008 NASCAR wants to have a sponsor signed.

"Just like we did with Nationwide, our goal is to find the best sponsor with the series that we can find," Poston said. "That doesn't always mean the sponsor that is going to spend the most amount of money. It's got to be the right fit, and it's got to fit into the character in this series.

"It's got to be a sponsor that we know is going to be committed to the fans of the series and the teams in this series and do the best job of promoting it."

The Craftsman deal had been valued at about $4 million a year, according to Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Daily. According to Speed, total viewership averaged 686,000 viewers per race this year, up from 659,000 last year, partly because of one race televised on Fox.