NASCAR's sponsorship sales team going through big changes (2024)

These arebusy times for NASCAR Holdings when it comes to corporate sponsorship — reshuffling its sales team, bringing in a brand consultant and working to renew or land several important deals.

While NASCAR’s sales team has had success since the pandemic, major sponsorships with blue-chip companies new to the sport have been harder to come by during that time, and competition has increased fiercely. NASCAR is also preparing for a new era next year with the start of a new media rights cycle, all factors that appear to be contributing to NASCAR’s latest moves.

After 30 years of service to NASCAR and International Speedway Corp., NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief revenue officer, Daryl Wolfe, told colleagues this month he will retire after the 2024 season. NASCAR also recently let go multiple salespeople under Wolfe and, in a move that came several months ago, quietly hired Denver-based brand consultancy Monigle to change how the company goes to the market overall, including in the sponsorship space.

Xfinity and Geico, two of NASCAR’s four premier partners, are said to be in renewal discussions, while a third, Coca-Cola, has been making changes to its deal. NASCAR is looking for a fifth premier partner, soures said, in what would be the first new brand to come in at that level since the system debuted in 2020. Moreover, it’s looking to fill smaller deals in a host of open categories, including technology.

Taken together, there’s a lot going on for NASCAR, and top brass appear determined to get more aggressive in driving revenue.

“If, as a league, they don’t evolve and grow with the way the marketplace is going, then they’re going to fall behind,” said Kami Taylor, executive vice president of experiential at Octagon, which works with several brands in NASCAR. “However, I think the overall health of NASCAR is strong and they still provide robust sponsorship opportunities for brands looking to grow regionally or domestically.”

NASCAR officials declined to comment.

Sponsorship has been a part of the 76-year-old sport for decades to defray the cost of running a race team and the league. Over time, that formula — combined with the massive fan base that NASCAR developed — helped turn NASCAR into a marketing and licensing powerhouse. But following the 2008 financial crisis, sponsorship started to dry up relative to its peak.

Just as NASCAR was switching to its new premier partner system in 2020, Formula 1 grew its popularity immensely through the opportunely timed Netflix series “Drive to Survive,” which got many Americans into the sport while they were stuck at home during pandemic lockdowns. Corporate partners quickly followed, and 2021 and 2022 were filled with announcements from brands based in the U.S. getting into F1 for the first time or renewing. In 2024, roughly 75% of all technology-related sponsors in F1 — including team sponsors — are American companies, according to Spomotion Analytics, with more than 40 from the U.S. compared to just six from Europe. That includes Amazon, Google, Microsoft, American Express, Oracle, Visa, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard, Cash App and Meta’s WhatsApp messaging platform.

In 2023, NASCAR said it added seven official sponsors, and it’s added two more this year. Brands added since 2023 include FanDuel, Powerball, Hard Rock Bet, ABB, Cabo Wabo tequila, RTIC coolers, Leidos, Ally Financial and Liquid Death.

When NASCAR moved to the premier partner system for its top Cup Series, it asked around $15 million annually over three- to five-year terms for those positions, sources said at the time, but it was unclear how much incremental revenue NASCAR saw because the four brands that signed on were already official partners. On top of Xfinity, Geico and co*ke, the fourth premier partner is Anheuser-Busch’s Busch Light brand.

NASCAR has looked into landing a fifth premier partner and doing so would ensure that the racing property would still have at least four if one of the original partners left.

Xfinity became title sponsor of NASCAR’s second-level series in 2015 as part of a corporate synergy strategy from Comcast, whose NBC Sports began broadcasting NASCAR races that year. Matt Lederer, Comcast’s vice president of branded partnerships and activation, has said Xfinity is in renewal talks with NASCAR. But the company wants to shake up the terms of its agreement, be more flexible with its spending and possibly redirect some of its league-level spending to other parts of the NASCAR industry, such as its team relationship with 23XI Racing.

Xfinity Mobile is a key product for Comcast and figures to be an important part of the next deal. Xfinity currently spends more than $10 million in the sport annually, all told, according to sources. The major question is whether Comcast will continue being both a premier partner of NASCAR and title sponsor of the Xfinity Series. Sources say it’s possible Xfinity could do a short-term renewal as title sponsor before shifting its relationship in the coming years to just being a premier partner.

Geico also is said to be in renewal discussions, and industry executives have waffled all year on whether the Berkshire Hathaway-owned insurer will renew. The company has had a multitude of executive and agency changes in recent years, which often equals change in sports marketing deals.

Meanwhile, co*ke’s deal is expected to continue next year, but the company has been making changes to its asset mix, sources say. Some NASCAR-owned tracks have started selling their soda rights to other brands — such as Kansas Speedway having 7UP sponsorship at its race this year — which shows how Coca-Cola has changed some of its asset mix.

The new structure of NASCAR’s sales team and whether NASCAR will hire a new CRO to directly replace Wolfe was unclear. Taylor, the Octagon executive, recommended that NASCAR continue to partner with teams on sponsorship packages to make deals “one larger package instead of just disparate pieces from an asset perspective.” The sport has improved its cool factor since the pandemic, and Taylor noted that should help the company find new sponsors.

“That does help, because now they have got a different product than they had before to go out and sell with,” Taylor said.