TNT is "still looking to nail down a few sponsors for its 'Wide Open Coverage'" of Saturday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400, according to Anthony Crupi of ADWEEK. TNT has "lined up six sponsors for its uninterrupted race coverage, including returning clients Coke Zero, Coors Light, Pfizer, Sprint and Toyota." Warner Bros. also will serve as a sponsor, and it will "promote a pair of upcoming comedies in 'Horrible Bosses' and 'Crazy, Stupid, Love.'" Turner Sports "hopes to lock in at least one more sponsor before Saturday's prime-time race." Notably "missing from Saturday's roster is a representative of the fast-food category." TNT's coverage of the race last year "boasted a pair of QSR sponsors" in Burger King and Subway. Crupi noted that Burger King "bowed out is not terribly surprising, given the chain's recent marketing travails." Meanwhile, Subway will serve as the presenting sponsor of Friday's Nationwide Series Subway Jalapeno 250, also held at Daytona Int'l Speedway. In the last two years, TNT "hasn't missed a single lap of Daytona, and since the network launched the concept in 2007, it has failed to present a grand total of nine laps." The "positioning has helped sponsors cut through the clutter of a standard NASCAR broadcast." Nielsen IAG Research indicated that sponsor messages featured during last year's Coke Zero 400 "delivered a 68 percent brand recall score, significantly higher when compared to standard 30-second spots that ran during other NASCAR events" (ADWEEK.com, 6/27).
