Nationwide Formally Announces NASCAR's No. 2 Series Sponsorship

By Michael Smith, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

NASCAR yesterday officially announced that Nationwide Insurance has signed a seven-year deal to title sponsor its No. 2 series, replacing Busch at the start of the ’08 season. Nationwide will also become the official auto, home and life insurance provider of NASCAR, replacing Allstate. Sources close to the negotiations told SBD/SBJ that Nationwide will pay a rights fee of $10M to NASCAR in the first year of the deal, with a 6% escalator for subsequent years.  Separate from the NASCAR agreement, Nationwide has made a media commitment to ESPN that is believed to be worth $4-5M, a track commitment to SMI that is already in place at about $4M and other activation expenses that are expected to bring their total spend to about $20M per year. That would go up if Nationwide is able to secure more track deals. Nationwide’s deals with ESPN and the tracks are separate from its NASCAR contract.

CONFLICT: With Geico currently serving as the primary sponsor for Phoenix Racing’s No. 7 Chevy, NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France said, “We will be working with the team owners that have a [sponsorship] conflict, and there are a couple. They're minimal as it relates to what other potential sponsors might have meant to the series. We will be working to handle that correctly.” Phelps said Geico “will have a two-year provision, a two-year sunset, which we think will give those involved an opportunity to go elsewhere and for Geico potentially to migrate either up to ... the Sprint Cup, or to the Craftsman Truck Series."