The deal with Spire Motorsports will see Chili’s get primary position on Corey LaJoie’s No. 7 Chevrolet for the Daytona 500Peter Casey/USA TODAY NETWORK
Casual dining chain Chili’s Grill & Bar is getting into racing for the first time with a new team sponsorship, as it tries to bring NASCAR’s famously brand-loyal fans to its restaurants. The deal is with Spire Motorsports and will see Chili’s get primary position on Corey LaJoie’s No. 7 Chevrolet for the 500. The Dallas-based chain, owned by Brinker International, will use its paint scheme to promote National Margarita Day on Feb. 22 with nine QR codes that will link to a chance to win a $10 gift card or a meet-and-greet with LaJoie at Circuit of the Americas in March. The design features Chili’s Presidente margarita along with its logo. The company says it's getting into racing in part because MRI-Simmons data shows that 68% of NASCAR fans have gone to a casual dining restaurant in the last 30 days. It is promoting the partnership with paid ads on social media along with messaging on its owned channels, email marketing and PR, and will air an ad during the race on Sunday. The publicly traded Brinker also owns Maggiano’s Little Italy. LaJoie told Fox News that the deal was special to him because “normally, you just try to get anybody you possibly can to pay money to put stickers on the car. But with this, I’ve been eating lunch at Chili’s and dinner at Chilis’ since I was a kid." Brinker reported second-half FY24 results at the end of January and said that same-store sales increased in the comparable period 5% for Chili’s and 6.7% for Maggiano’s. The company was trading at $44.65 at the end of trading Thursday.
