NASCAR Owner Rick Hendrick owns the country's “second-largest privately owned auto dealership group," and he will be "using his competitors' cars this week to spread the message about his company's website,” according to Nate Ryan of USA TODAY. HendrickCars.com will sponsor Phoenix Racing's No. 51 Chevy driven by Kurt Busch in Sunday's Daytona 500, as well as Busch's No. 1 entry in Saturday's Drive4CODP.com 300 Nationwide Series race. The website also “will be a major associate sponsor" during the Daytona 500 on Richard Childress Racing's No. 33 Chevy driven by Elliott Sadler. Hendrick said that the site's traffic “spiked 200% on Feb. 13 when the partnerships were announced and unique visitors had increased 170% since and were averaging about five minutes a visit.” He said that it was “evidence that NASCAR still offered a solid return.” Hendrick said of sponsoring the RCR car, “I saw Richard was going to run four cars, so I just took a shot. I said, 'Let me give Richard a shot' and called him. I said, ‘Richard, I know this is kind of bizarre, and if you don't want to do it, I surely understand.’ He thought about it and said, ‘Yeah, man. I think it'd be kind of cool.’” Hendrick noted Phoenix Racing Owner James Fitch has a engine deal with Hendrick Motorsports, and said “There's two different deals there. James pays Hendrick Motorsports for engines and chassis. Hendrick Automotive Group and HendrickCars.com spend money separately on his team. Hendrick Motorsports isn't going to say, 'Don't worry about it, just knock it off our bill'” (USA TODAY, 2/23).
