Great Clips yesterday announced that it has joined Hendrick Motorsports as a primary sponsor of the team’s No. 5 Chevrolet with driver Kasey Kahne for three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races next season. Great Clips was Kahne’s co-primary sponsor in the Nov. 4 race at Texas Motor Speedway, marking the company’s first-ever Sprint Cup sponsorship. The company will be the No. 5 team’s primary sponsor March 17 at Bristol, July 28 at Indianapolis and Sept. 22 at New Hampshire (Hendrick Motorsports). SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Tripp Mickle notes Great Clips "will shift its NASCAR spending next year by dropping two Nationwide Series race title sponsorships in order to sponsor Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 car." Great Clips has “sponsored Kahne since he made his Busch Series debut" in '01. Sources valued the three-race deal with Kahne “at more than $1 million." The agreement “shrinks the number of available races on Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 car from seven to four" for the '13 season. Great Clips will "continue its full-season primary sponsorship of Turner Motorsports’ Nationwide Series program," with Kahne to drive in 10 Nationwide races next year "for the brand and Turner." Great Clips VP/Marketing & Communications Terri Miller said that the salon “plans to develop a commercial for next year that features Kahne.” Great Clips has partnered with History Channel “to feature Kahne converting his garage into a man cave.” The company also will “run a show car program and promote its ties to Kahne at retail” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 11/26 issue).
