Joe Gibbs Racing today announced a sponsorship deal with Dollar General, which will expand the company's tie-in with JGR for the '13 NASCAR season. Dollar General will serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 20 Sprint Cup Toyota driven by Matt Kenseth for 17 races next season, including the Daytona 500. The discount chain also re-upped its Nationwide Series commitment to JGR and will be the primary sponsor for Brian Vickers' ride (Joe Gibbs Racing). USA TODAY's Nate Ryan notes the 17 races is "up from 12 races this season." Dollar General Chair & CEO Rick Dreiling said, "Our goal is to grow into a full-time Cup ride. But it's a little soon to commit if that's going to be next year or two to four years from now." Dreiling said that stock-car racing is the company's "only national sports sponsorship because of internal marketing research that indicates its customers are 30 times more likely to be NASCAR fans than average consumers." JGR Owner Joe Gibbs said that The Home Depot, which has been sponsoring the No. 20 since '99 but scaled back to 24 races this season, "will pick up the other 19 races" for Kenseth in '13. Gibbs said that his team "had kept pace by trying to foster 'business-to-business' deals between its backers" (USA TODAY, 11/6).
