Philadelphia-based Axalta Coating Systems "has signed on to become the fifth and final injector partner" of Daytona Int'l Speedway, according to Adam Stern of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The deal grants the company the "right to brand the facility’s central entrance, or what Daytona refers to as an injector, joining Toyota, Chevrolet, Sunoco and Florida Hospital as founding partners of the track." Terms were not revealed, but sources have said that track owner Int'l Speedway Corp. "pitched the injectors" for around $2-2.5M annually over 10- to 15-year terms. Axalta will "start planning its section of the racetrack right away, but the area won’t be fully done" until '17. Axalta Chair & CEO Charlie Shaver said that the company "has seen a 3:1 return on investment in NASCAR and views the sponsorship as an opportunity to reach key business-to-business customers while also forging deeper ties with ISC and the companies with which it does business." Shaver: "If you just look at the number of partners NASCAR has, we’ve actually had direct relationships with some of them that we met through racing" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/9 issue).
