Credit card processor First Data will "take over sponsorship" of the Martinsville Speedway fall Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, according to Ben Williams of the MARTINSVILLE BULLETIN. The deal is for three years, and October 29 will "mark the inaugural First Data 500 race at the track." First Data Global Head of Communications Josh King said, "We may not be one of those storied NASCAR brands like M&Ms or Budweiser, but chances are, when you buy a bag of candy or a can of beer, that payment is transacted through the rail network of First Data.” First Data CMO Mia Shernoff said that as part of the sponsorship, First Data’s point of sale system known as “Clover” will be "installed at the Speedway and used to process all transactions at the track" (
MARTINSVILLE BULLETIN, 8/3). The Clover platform will be deployed at three ISC tracks this NASCAR season: Martinsville, Phoenix Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway (
Martinsville Speedway).
TURTLE POWER: Nickelodeon will promote its entitlement of the Cup Series Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on Sept. 17 by taking part in a local community day on Saturday, and the net is using free agent Bubba Wallace as an ambassador. This is the third consecutive year that Nickelodeon will entitle a race as it grows deeper ties in the sport via NASCAR-branded content on its Nick Sports platform and a co-branded merchandise line it signed with the sanctioning body last year. Wallace was part of the series “Hammer Down,” and Nickelodeon Senior VP/Sports Marketing & Development Anthony DiCosmo noted the network is invested in Wallace as a result. DiCosmo conceded that given that Wallace is currently out of a ride, Nickelodeon could be interested in sponsoring Wallace for the September race under the right circumstances. DiCosmo noted that after this year’s race, Nickelodeon’s two-year deal with Chicagoland will be up and it will re-evaluate where any future race entitlements most make sense (Adam Stern, Staff Writer).
