NASCAR Nextel Cup! Do you care?

Obviously not if you’re not a NASCAR fan in the first place.

I think it’s a good move. Too many people associate NASCAR with rednecks, and having a cigarette as your series sponsor doesn’t help that. Winston was a great sponsor for over 30 years, and NASCAR owes a lot to them. Winston would help local tracks with stands, paving and even paint. (There’s a reason why many tracks even today are predominately red and white!)

At first I was hesitant because in this year alone there were already announcements of major schedule changes and this just seemed like too much. (No Darlington race on LABOR DAY?!) But after I’ve calmed down I realize that this could be very good for the sport. Tobacco industries have such tight advertising restrictions (That’s why they came to NASCAR in the first place, the early 70s is when the gov’t decided that they couldn’t have TV ads so they went to racing) that won’t affect Nextel. They can run TV, radio and magazine ads to promote the sport. No longer will cigarettes and NASCAR be married, but to a new partner, a progressive technology based sponsor.

Just as long as they don’t ban smoking from the tracks. :mad:

The only thing that concerns me is how long will Nextel be around? With Winston having been the title sponsor for 30 years, people are used to stability. Will it be the same if the name changes every 4 years?

First off, the name sounds dumb. I’ll probably still call it Winston Cup.

Secondly, how do you think Cingular and Alltel feel right now? They now have to deal with a major competitor getting to plaster their name and logo all over the series, and you can bet that the 31 and 12 cars will not get a high-profile spot in the marketing plan for the near future.

racekarl, that’s something I thought about as well. My only guess is nobody else was stepping up to the plate. Nextel does seem like a second tier sponsor compared with Coke, Budweiser or hell, even a major oil or gas company I guess nobody else was ready to pony up the cash.

brianjedi, I agree. “NASCAR Nextel Cup” is hard to say but “Nextel Cup” isn’t. I’m used to calling it Lowes Motor Speedway! And good point about the rivals, but you would have had the same issues with Bud (2 car), Coke (24 car) or even Penzoil (10 car). Maybe McDonalds would be neutral but blech.

Since this is IMHO, who would be a better sponsor? General Foods? GE? Cisco?

As an Earnhardt Jr fan, I must say I am glad it wasn’t Bud. The conspiracy theorists would have a field day.

Winston used to have a promotion at Pocono (missed the last two, but I imagine it’s the same at other tracks) where if you are a smoker of legal age (18), you turn over your current pack, whether it was full or nearly empty, and you’d get 2 packs of Winston or Winston Lights.

I can’t wait to trade in my old, long disconnected cell phone for a pair of them fancy Nextel coast to coast walkie talkie things next year!:wink:

Coke would have been a better sponsor, with all the money they pour into the sport now, it’s long history as a sucessful company, and it’s worldwide name recognition.

Well, it is more exiting than golf…

I’m probablygoing to keep calling it Winston Cup. I still call it Charlotte, not Lowes. Hell, I still call the arena in Albany the Knickerbocker, not the Pepsi.

“Nextel Cup” just sounds stupid, IMHO. And Nextel doesn’t seem like the kind of sponsor that’s going to stick around. They should go back to calling it Grand National or something, then they can futz with the sponsors as much as they want. The NASCAR Grand National series, sponsored by Nextel or Pepsi or Bob’s Fish’n’Dip.

I think it will do nothing but help. There are many potential sponsors that wanted to be involved in racing but were turned off because of the ties to Winston. In 1993 the University of Nebraska was going to sponsor the Melling Racing #9 car, cars were painted, promotional info released, and diecast were sold. Then there was a snag. The U of N alumni association was told that the car would be required to carry Winston Cup stickers at each race. The association said no and the sponsorship deal fell through. McDonalds and Heinz cutback their sponsorship dollars because of the tobacco tie in. Because of the economy I don’t think you will see a sudden influx of new sponsors but you will see some companies that would not consider sponsorship of some kind become involved with NASCAR racing in the next 5 years.

The name change has already sparked some controversy. It was announced the Cingular and Alltel sponsorships would be grandfathered in. But you can bet you will not see those cars or drivers used in any kind of promotions. AT&T is miffed because even though they have sponsored the #49 car this season and are a potential sponsor of the #99 next year they were not mentioned. And Verizon, which sponsors a car in the Busch series, has shown interest in moving up.

In the long run I think NASCAR will grow because of the move away from tobacco.

I think it will do nothing but help. There are many potential sponsors that wanted to be involved in racing but were turned off because of the ties to Winston. In 1993 the University of Nebraska was going to sponsor the Melling Racing #9 car, cars were painted, promotional info released, and diecast were sold. Then there was a snag. The U of N alumni association was told that the car would be required to carry Winston Cup stickers at each race. The association said no and the sponsorship deal fell through. McDonalds and Heinz cutback their sponsorship dollars because of the tobacco tie in. Because of the economy I don’t think you will see a sudden influx of new sponsors but you will see some companies that would not consider sponsorship of some kind become involved with NASCAR racing in the next 5 years.

The name change has already sparked some controversy. It was announced the Cingular and Alltel sponsorships would be grandfathered in. But you can bet you will not see those cars or drivers used in any kind of promotions. AT&T is miffed because even though they have sponsored the #49 car this season and are a potential sponsor of the #99 next year they were not mentioned. And Verizon, which sponsors a car in the Busch series, has shown interest in moving up.

In the long run I think NASCAR will grow because of the move away from tobacco.

The NEXTEL Cup??

THE NEXTEL CUP??!?!?!?

KGS faints for a few seconds, then climbs back into chair

Seriously, is this a joke or what? I think I must insist on a cite here.

I mean, yeah, I can understand the problem with having a TOBACCO COMPANY sponsor the series in this day and age, but…GEEZ!!! They have GOT to come up with something better than THAT!!!

Running off to check nascar.com right now…

Oh, crap. N/M about the cite.

Stupid brick…

Heh. I just had to share this part:

[bolding mine]

Well, I guess that’s appropriate, a corporate sellout song for a corporate sellout racing league. Of course, since The Who is the rarest of bands, the only I don’t mind hearing their songs used in commercials…maybe it will turn out ok, after all. :slight_smile:

Well, the entire point of the racing league is to be a corporate sellout. I don’t know why being a corporate sellout to Winston is better than being a corporate sellout to Nextel.

I think it sounds really stupid anyway, though.

While I don’t like the way other sponsors have (unavoidably) been shafted, I think this was a necessary step forward. Let’s face it, the tobacco connection was just becoming more and more of an albatross. I’m glad that NASCAR had the guts…and the good sense…to make the difficult choice and move ahead.

“Selling out” hasn’t been an issue for decades. We’ve come a long way from grudge matches in the sand. Money matters.

I think it should be pointed out to the readers of this thread who may be unfamiliar with NASCAR that the partnership between RJ Reynolds and NASCAR was pretty natural. Both have very deep roots in the South, and tobacco is a huge industry in the Carolinas and Virginia.

I think Itll help get minorities into the sport. Id like to see a black driver or two at least.
A corporation with a high profile and a PR/PC image to maintain will probably take steps in that direction. They would try to tap into that huge market that currently is dormant with the minorities, especially blacks.

Wisnton (RJ Reynolds) didn`t have to worry about that. People were complacent with the status-quo and change was not necessary.

Watch, it will happen sooner than later.

Go Jr.

The move was inevitable I think, just about all major racing series have been moving away from tobacco sponsorship in recent years. Nextel Cup sounds more like a golf or tennis match to me, though.

I fail to understand what Winston vs. Nextel has to do with black race car drivers. I’m not going to say that I think minorities have really been given a fair chance by NASCAR but I think that’s more a problem with the general philosophy of the owners and in the pits (and perhaps with the perception of NASCAR as a “good ol’ boys” sport, which could discourage any minority drivers who would otherwise have attempted to compete) than with the series sponsor.

It doesn`t have anything to do with black drivers.

It has to do with the image that the new sponsor will have to deal with if no minorities ever get involved. Also, the marketing may move a little more to the center to get minority fans involved first. I have NEVER seen a black person wearing any type of NASCAR apparell. Which probably means that there aren`t many of them as fans. Maybe no-one cares and it will stay the way it is, who knows?

I’ve seen black people wearing NASCAR apparel - for a while around here there was a fad of 20-something African-American males wearing Chase Authentics jackets, usually for the M&M or Valvoline cars. However, I think they were less attracted to the jackets for their NASCAR angle and more for the colorful design.

There were black people at the Pocono race the other weekend, but woefully few. Certainly underrepresented among the fandom as much as among the drivers.