Well, that just spills it. Hendrick is going to take the most popular driver in NASAR and make him in the image of Gordon and Johnson. I'm not feeling good about this at all. See you in 5.

 

Not with Mountain Dew on the car.

 

PepsiCo dropped its exclusive pouring-rights deal with International Speedway Corporation so it would have the money to make this happen. The dollar amount they're talking about ... that's just a big number.

I believe they're negotiating to try to keep the #8 for Jr.

 

NASCAR has put the ixnay on that.

That is correct. Coke will be the ISC exclusive sponsor next year(not sure how many years that contract is for), but it still wouldn't surprise me for Mountain Dew to become a primary sponsor again after being absent for so long. Mountain Dew is a popular drink with both the young & the old Nascar fans, and I'm sure Pepsico would like to increase those sales, so what better avenue to do that with? And with sponsorship now well into double-digit millions for the top teams, this one is sure to become the top sponsorship deal to date when it's announced(although it may be tough to find out exactly how much since neither Pepsi nor Hendrick will want it known!)! :sssh:

The Coke-ISC deal is for 10 years, but it's phasing in slowly as a number of Pepsi deals expire. Daytona, Richmond and few others will switch to Coke immediately, while Talladega (as one example) isn't scheduled to switch until 2011.

 

In all honesty, Pepsi never even tried to negotiate with ISC this time around. And to be perfectly honest, the Coke-ISC announcement was timed to give the France family something positive to talk about at the last shareholders' meeting --- ticket sales are down and all these rainouts aren't helping matters any.

I just read the press release that ISC released on July 9, 2007, and it says, in part, that they signed an exclusive ten-year agreement with Coca-Cola North America. Specific financial terms were not released. Under the terms of the agreement, CCNA brands will become the “Official Soft Drink,” “Official Sparkling Beverage” and “Official Water” beginning in January of 2008! :thumb: Daytona, Chicago, Homestead, Kansas, Michigan, & Richmond are the tracks with exclusivity beginning in January.

But not official sports drink. The Gatorade contract is separate, so Powerade won't be the official sports drink at ISC tracks anytime soon.

I just read the press release that ISC released on July 9, 2007, and it says, in part, that they signed an exclusive ten-year agreement with Coca-Cola North America. Specific financial terms were not released. Under the terms of the agreement, CCNA brands will become the “Official Soft Drink,” “Official Sparkling Beverage” and “Official Water” beginning in January of 2008! :thumb: Daytona, Chicago, Homestead, Kansas, Michigan, & Richmond are the tracks with exclusivity beginning in January.

 

 

Obviously, and just to clear up any confusion, only the drinks announced in the release(and previously posted) are included in the agreement, and none of the 3 would be considered sports drinks by any athlete or anyone who is familiar with such drinks.

And, since Coke is the #1 selling soft drink, I look for them to continue increasing their share of the sports drink market by acquiring exclusive marketing with Nascar when the current arrangements expire and, since they've been so successful with their sponsorship of the NHRA, positioning their product's visibility and appeal with, arguably, the 2 most popular motorsports venues, in an attempt to become the #1 selling sports drink as well. I believe it's only a matter of time before they succeed, given the increase in popularity they've enjoyed over the past few years.

So here's how the Hendrick sponsorships line up next year (or so I was told):

 

24, 48: No major changes. Why should they? Everybody's happy.

 

25: Kellogg's, CarQuest and possibly GMAC together.

 

5: Mountain Dew and National Guard.

 

Not a huge image change for Junior with the soda --- the "Do The Dew" program was already aimed directly at the demographic Budweiser marketed Junior to --- but the National Guard sponsorship ... that's interesting. If my friend is correct, it also suggests a completely different paint job for the 5 than the "throwback" paint/decal set Hendrick ran for Brian Vickers last year.

 

There's a major obstacle in the way of the National Guard deal, though ... JR Motorsports' primary sponsor is still the Navy and I don't see that deal going away soon. Mark Martin would have run a couple of races in Junior's Busch car this year but the Army nixed that deal for "conflict of interest" reasons.

 

I have also been told that Budweiser may back off sponsoring a car, with Bud Light or Monster Energy Drink (which it distributes for the Hansen Beverage Company of California) taking the place of the familiar red-and-white. Given that Bud Light is overwhelmingly the top seller at NASCAR tracks, I can see a logical scenario where Bud Light ends up on the side/hood of a car.

Not with Mountain Dew on the car.

 

PepsiCo dropped its exclusive pouring-rights deal with International Speedway Corporation so it would have the money to make this happen. The dollar amount they're talking about ... that's just a big number.

 

 

Back-tracking just a bit and, oddly enough, agreeing with my prior post are we?

o-line, I dunno who you're talking to. The people I talk to ... they know. And that's enough for me.

So will you now only believe the last "people" you talked to ..."they know", while not seeking out the "people" who told you that Moutain Dew would not be on the car? Or will it be the most recent "people I talk to ... they know. And that's enough for me"? Of course, you're bound to get it right with either one, sooner or later! :thumb:

 

:confused: :bunny:

I thought your source(:sssh: ) only had Jr. being sponsored by Mountain Dew, and National Guard as some sort of a possiblity? :confused: Are you now inferring that "AMP" & "KELLOGGS" are also going to sponsor him now? All of them, or a combination of the three, or.......? :walk:

That picture what the Charlotte paper put on That's Racin' tonight. I have a source there who says they were just speculating to fill space on ThatsRacin.com. I think Jim Utter thought he was getting a scoop on Junior's sponsor and ended up with something else entirely (see DEI-Ginn merger thread).

 

Amp is Mountain Dew's energy drink (as opposed to SoBe NoFear and SoBe Adrenaline Rush, which are also from Pepsi but aren't Mountain Dew. Is that clear? Anybody get the feeling that PepsiCo is trying to corner the market on energy drinks? :lol: ).

 

I stand by what I heard at work --- Mountain Dew as the primary sponsor. Still not sure how the Guard fits in; it still makes no sense unless the Navy sponsorship goes elsewhere in the Busch series.

 

Also have had some questions come up about GMAC, given that it's 1) no longer part of GM and 2) now owned by Cerberus, the holding company that just bought Chrysler from Daimler-Benz.

 

RANDOM: As a result of the Ginn-Earnhardt merger, the Army car is now a teammate of the guy whose Busch team operates the Navy car; that guy happens to be the guy who next year will be a teammate of (or maybe holder of) the National Guard sponsorship.

 

Here's what satisfies Occam's Razor:

 

5: Mountain Dew. Maybe an occasional alternate paint change (Amp Energy Drink, for instance). $30 million a year not outside the realm of possibility.

25: Kellogg's/National Guard. Maybe with CarQuest, maybe without. Certainly not $30 million a year. :lol: