Best Buy today announced it is jumping from Richard Petty Motorsports to Roush Fenway Racing, signing an agreement for nine primary races on Matt Kenseth’s No. 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup car and two primary races on Carl Edwards' No. 99 Sprint Cup car. Financial terms of the deal were not available. Best Buy was spending as much as $10M a year with RPM to sponsor the No. 43 car driven by A.J. Allmendinger for 24 races. Best Buy’s new sponsorship agreement is a major win for RFR, which lost the sponsorship support of Crown Royal earlier this year on the No. 17 car and needed sponsorship support for the '12 season. The retailer had been in negotiations with RPM and was expected to make a decision after Black Friday about whether or not it would extend with the team for '12. Instead, it opted to shift its sponsorship to RFR. In a statement, Best Buy Senior VP/Marketing Drew Panayiotou said, "Roush Fenway Racing is a great fit for Best Buy Racing. NASCAR continues to be a relevant way for us to connect with our customers. Our goal is to reach our target audiences in a meaningful way, while maximizing the value of our marketing and sponsorship investments." RPM co-Owner Richard Petty in a statement said losing Best Buy was "disappointing," but noted, "Our plan has always been to run a two-car team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2012 and we are continuing down that path. We have several partners that remain committed to the No. 43 team." CAA Sports advised Best Buy on its negotiations.
BUSCH WACKED: As Shell/Pennzoil awaits word from Penske Racing about who will drive the No. 22 Sprint Cup car in '12, the oil and gas company is removing a host of marketing and POS materials featuring Kurt Busch. The driver, who was fired earlier this month, had his signature featured on coffee cups, cashier uniforms, gift cards and other promotional materials in Shell outlets nationwide. The company sent all of its stores a list of inventory with Busch's name or likeness that needed to be removed. But the total expense of replacing that material is marginal compared to what it could be, Shell NASCAR Dir Heidi Massey-Bong said. The company was planning to overhaul a lot of its NASCAR marketing materials for '12 and would have had to replace a lot of it with or without Busch returning. It is coming out with a new fuel reward program that its next driver will be featured prominently in during '12. It also opted to feature Penske Racing in most of its hospitality baskets for corporate guests, which allowed it to use those materials at both IndyCar and NASCAR events. Massey-Bong said the company is still finding imagery that needs to be removed. She last week walked into a conference room that had a cardboard cutout of Busch in a corner. Massey-Bong said, "We'll stumble on those things."
