Duck Out Of Water: Aflac Ending Three-Year NASCAR Partnership

Longtime NASCAR partner Aflac has ended its three-year partnership and will no longer be the official supplemental insurance of the sanctioning body. The insurer has one year remaining on its sponsorship of Roush Fenway Racing's No. 99 Ford driven by Carl Edwards. The insurer has not made a decision regarding plans to continue or end that relationship and will continue to evaluate it over the course of the year. Aflac Senior Manager of Corporate Sponsorships Keith Farley said of the company's decision to end its NASCAR partnership, "Like any company, from time to time, we make changes to our sponsorships. We cannot discuss why those decisions are made because that would involve revealing business strategy." Atlanta-based Career Sports & Entertainment works with Aflac in NASCAR. NASCAR VP & Chief Sales Officer Jim O'Connell said, "Aflac has been and continues to be a tremendous partner to NASCAR. Although they won't be an official partner this year, we look forward to their success with Roush Racing and Carl Edwards." Aflac joins Tylenol, Tissot and Nicorette in declining to renew an agreement with NASCAR. The sanctioning body renewed two-thirds of the sponsorship deals due to elapse last year, signing renewals with Toyota, GM, Dodge, Unilever and DirecTV. O'Connell said last month three other extensions are agreed to and are being finalized.