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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Sponsor Deals Come Together/Friday Notebook
Ryan Newman once again will have U.S. Army sponsorship in 2010...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted November 13, 2009   Avondale, AZ
Ryan Newman has one NASCAR Sprint Cup win in 2010. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

MONEY, MONEY — The ever-changing sponsor landscape continues to evolve for 2010 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup garage, with several key deals announced or pending this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. On Friday, the U.S. Army confirmed it has renewed its deal as one of the primary sponsors of Ryan Newman's No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. In 2010, the Army will only be Newman’s primary sponsor for 15 races, down from 22 this season. For the other 21 races, the Army will be an associate sponsor on Newman’s car, and it will be a year-long associate on the No. 14 SHR Chevy driven by Tony Stewart.

SHR has a press conference Saturday to announce Newman’s other primary, who presumably will sponsor the car for more than half the season.

By the same token, Carquest is returning to Hendrick Motorsports next year, albeit in a reduced roll. This year, Carquest and Kellogg’s split the season as co-primaries of Mark Martin's No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet. Next year, Carquest will be the primary sponsor of the No. 5 for eight races, while GoDaddy.com will take 20 races and Delphi two more. No word yet on what, if any, roll Kellogg’s will have with the team.

Carquest will be an associate sponsor on the No. 5 during the 28 races where it isn’t the primary.

Also, on Saturday at PIR, Michael Waltrip will announce a sponsorship deal for his team’s No. 99 NASCAR Nationwide Series Toyota driven by Trevor Bayne.

Less happy on the sponsorship front is Robby Gordon, with ESPN.com reporting that the veteran owner-driver only has enough sponsorship right now for eight races next season.

STILL PUSHING HARD — Most of the attention in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is paid to the very top of the points standings, but that doesn’t mean the guys out of title contention aren’t racing hard. Far from it, in fact. With millions of dollars in prize money and bragging rights still at stake, the guys behind Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin are still going for it.

“Nothing changes for us,” said third-place Jeff Gordon. “It's the same as usual. Go out, try to get the best qualifying effort we can here on qualifying day on Friday. And approach practice tomorrow, trying to be better than we were the last time we were here. Try to be one of the best cars out there, and hope that that pays off on Sunday and then execute the best that we possibly can on Sunday. Try to learn from our mistakes in our past, and try to make any of those things that we've learned from, make them better.”

Further down the points, others feel the same.

“It pays a lot of money for the final point standings for our sport, and your name is etched in that book for a long time,” said Greg Biffle, who is currently seventh in points, just 11 markers behind Juan Pablo Montoya. “So getting the highest finish we can in the points is important. And maybe being right where I’m at, maybe I’d have a different opinion if I was 12th or 11th or 10th – what’s the difference between 10th and 11th? But we really have an opportunity to be fifth, I think, or at least sixth, it depends what happens. To finish fifth in points would be really big for me, I think. That would be big for our team. So, you’re always trying to get the most points you can and try and get your car going for next year, and you’re sort of all doing it together.”

Brian Vickers, who is 12th in points, has another agenda: With the 2009 Sprint Cup title mathematically out of reach, Vickers and is Red Bull Racing crew are experimenting for 2010. “The sport is so competitive that any advantage you can get matters,” said Vickers. “Sitting on the pole, winning races and being in the Chase were our three goals this year and we accomplished those. The next goal is to win a championship. Once that was out of our reach, then our focus went to winning a championship in 2010. For that matter, now we’re going to try to test up the race track because we’re not allowed to test. Ultimately that’s the end result. We can’t test, we’re going to try more stuff at the track when the opportunity presents itself.”


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