Gatorade “dropped its title sponsorship” of the annual Daytona 500 qualifying races earlier this year, “but the PepsiCo brand plans to extend its sponsorship of NASCAR’s victory lane at 12 racetracks,” according to Tripp Mickle of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The deal with ISC will see the brand “continue to be associated with one of NASCAR’s most visible locations, Gatorade Victory Lane.” The company will “have branding in victory lane at ISC’s 12 Sprint Cup tracks and have the location described as Gatorade Victory Lane on radio broadcasts from those facilities.” Gatorade also “will receive tickets and hospitality at the tracks.” Financial terms of the “new, multiyear deal” were not available. The last deal, which included the Gatorade Duels title sponsorship, “was a 10-year agreement valued at more than $2 million a year.” Gatorade will become the “official isotonic beverage of ISC’s tracks.” The brand also will “add the sports nutrition category to its deal so that it can promote its line of energy chews, gels and bars.” In exchange for expanding into sports nutrition, Gatorade “gave up the rights to the energy drink category, allowing ISC to sell that for the first time in the last decade” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 9/24 issue)
