Michael Waltrip Racing Friday announced it had signed Clint Bowyer to a three-year deal to join its NASCAR Sprint Cup team with 5-Hour Energy sponsoring Bowyer’s No. 15 Toyota “for 24 of 36 races next season,” according to David Scott of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. Waltrip hopes that adding Bowyer “will improve his team’s odds of landing at least one driver” in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Bowyer spent the last six years at Richard Childress Racing, and will “remain in his No. 33 Chevy for RCR through the end of this season” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/8). Bowyer said that he “began talking to 5-Hour Energy about three months ago.” SCENEDAILY.com’s Bob Pockrass reported Bowyer “first brought the sponsorship to RCR, but RCR wasn’t able to make it work.” MWR is “looking for funding for the other third of the season for what will be a third MWR car” (SCENEDAILY.com, 10/7). FOXSPORTS.com’s Lee Spencer noted while sponsorship for Bowyer outside of 5-Hour Energy “isn’t clear … the driver has an affable personality that should attract further financial support.” Bowyer “brings cachet” to MWR -- an “element that’s been missing” since Dale Jarrett retired in '08 (FOXSPORTS.com, 10/7).
SPONSOR ISSUES CONTINUE: YAHOO SPORTS’ Nick Bromberg noted as the ’12 Sprint Cup season “gets closer, the absence of sponsor dollars has left drivers and teams scrambling. And potentially shrinking.” Roush Fenway Racing’s Matt Kenseth “doesn’t have a sponsor for 2012 after Crown Royal’s departure, and it’s been reported that UPS is leaving the No. 6 and David Ragan at the end of the season.” RFR has run drivers Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. “unsponsored in the Nationwide Series, but it would be almost implausible to think that the organization could run even one car in the Cup Series without a sponsor, let alone two.” Red Bull Racing “may cease operations at the end of the year if no one purchases the team.” Stewart-Haas Racing is adding a third car driven by Danica Patrick and sponsored by Go Daddy for 12 races, and Stewart “has said that he’d like to run that third car full-time with Mark Martin in the seat when Patrick’s not driving.” Bromberg noted that with the “consistently escalating costs of running a Cup team, companies are struggling to afford the price tag attached to sponsoring a car.” Outside of Red Bull’s two cars, only seven drivers “will have had a single sponsor for the entirety of the 2011 season” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/7).
