Cheerio! General Mills Leaving Petty's No. 43 Car For RCR
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General Mills' Cheerios Brand Shifting
Sponsorship From Petty Enterprises In '09 |
General Mills will be the primary sponsor of the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing (RCR) Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet for the '09 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, leaving Petty Enterprises "searching for a new primary sponsor for its flagship No. 43 car," according to David Caraviello of NASCAR.com. RCR Owner Richard Childress said that General Mills "agreed to join his team last week." RCR does "much of its planning a half a year in advance," and the timing of the move gives the team a "healthy 10 months to prepare for the No. 33 car's rollout." A driver for the car will be announced at a later date. Petty has had just two sponsors -- STP and General Mills -- on the No. 43 car since '72 (NASCAR.com, 4/1). YAHOO SPORTS' Bob Margolis cited sources as saying that a deal between RCR and driver Bobby Labonte to drive the No. 33 car is complete. Labonte has driven the past two years with Petty (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 4/1). However, in Winston-Salem, Mike Mulhern reports that is "still up in the air." Labonte is in the last year of his contract with Petty, but the team "would like to keep him." Meanwhile, the loss of General Mills "could push Petty to make a deal" with an outside interest. Petty has been "mulling over an offer" from Gillett Evernham Motorsports Majority Owner George Gillett "for a partnership between the two Dodge operations." But to date, Petty Enterprises Owner Richard Petty has been "reluctant to give up too much control of the family business" (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 4/2).
HALL OF FAME RACING: DLP HDTV announced it will extend its sponsorship of the No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Toyota driven by J.J. Yeley through the '09 season. DLP HDTV has been the primary sponsor on the car since it first raced in '06. (DLP).
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