Danica Patrick may have finished 8th in yesterday's Daytona 500, but her pole win dominated the week leading up to the race and Stewart-Haas Racing execs could not have been happier. The team still has three primary races to sell on Patrick’s No. 10 Sprint Cup Series car, and it is hoping the news coverage Patrick received last week bolsters its sales effort. During the course of the week, she did 12 hours of interviews with 40 different outlets ranging from NBC's "Nightly News" and ABC's "World News" to Parade magazine and the London Telegraph. "SportsCenter" also showed six minutes of live coverage of her pole-winning press conference. SHR execs are targeting brands in the health & beauty and health & fitness categories. SHR Exec VP Brett Frood said, “We want to find a brand with authenticity that relates to her.” The co-primary sponsor would get appearances, marketing rights, the primary paint schemes and firesuit for three races. Go Daddy sponsors 33 races, and Frood said the company is willing to be flexible with the three races a co-primary sponsor receives. Frood: “We can do spring, summer, fall, or summer, fall, fall.” In addition to selling the races on Patrick’s car, SHR is selling six races on Tony Stewart’s No. 14 car and eight races on Ryan Newman’s No. 39. SHR on Friday announced it had signed commercial truck dealer Rush Enterprises as a primary sponsor for three races on Stewart’s ride. Financial terms were not available, but primary sponsorship for top drivers like Stewart typically sells for more than $500,000 a race. Rush Enterprises will feature its Rush Truck Centers brand on the hood of Stewart’s car during races at Auto Club Speedway (March 24), Martinsville (April 7) and Richmond (April 27). It expands on an associate sponsorship Rush Enterprises has had since '10 with SHR. The company services and provides the team with its haulers and rigs.
