Watkins Glen Int'l will “go without a title sponsor for next week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race after a potential late deal fell apart,” according to Andrew Legare of the Elmira STAR-GAZETTE. This is the 27th annual Sprint Cup race at the track and “it will be the first without a title sponsor.” Heluva Good!, the sponsor of “the previous three races, decided in February not to renew its contract.” This year’s race “will be called the Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen.” WGI President Michael Printup said, “We had been working for about three months with a pretty high level brand inside of America and we were notified last week they couldn’t put together a complete package.” Printup said that title sponsorships “provide between $500,000 and $2 million” (Elmira STAR-GAZETTE, 8/1). In New York, Chris Gill notes the name of the race “was chosen by the WGI staff to bring some attention to Central New York’s most prominent features and help boost local and regional tourism.” Printup said of going without a title sponsor, “It’s a big-time disappointment here, we’ve been very successful here at The Glen for 20-plus years securing a sponsor. It’s not the desired way to go, but the fans won’t see a thing -- this is going to be as seamless as always.” Printup said that talks “fell through late last week, as the company couldn’t reach an agreement with ESPN.” Printup: “The biggest stumbling block we always run into: they’re looking for a combo package, but we only control one end. They want a TV package and we don’t control that” (CORNING LEADER, 8/1).
