Indian vehicle manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra is renewing the NASCAR team sponsorship that it uses to promote its U.S. tractor business, a multiyear agreement with Stewart-Haas Racing. The deal will be announced later this morning with terms undisclosed, but Mahindra Ag North America brand Mahindra Tractors will be the primary sponsor of SHR’s No. 14 Ford driven by Chase Briscoe for the majority of the 38-race 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
The company first aligned with SHR in 2022, and it’s well-known in global motorsport circles through its factory Formula E team, Mahindra Racing. Mahindra & Mahindra in India is a publicly traded company that, on top of farming equipment, also sells cars plus an array of financial and IT services. The U.S. division is based in Houston. Mahindra Automotive North America President & CEO Viren Popli said his company renewed the deal because NASCAR's fanbase overindexes in tractor owners, “so it gets to where we want to be” from a consumer marketing perspective. He said the spend in the renewal period is about the same as what it spent on an average basis in the first two years of its deal.
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The four-car SHR struggled this season, with Kevin Harvick finishing 13th in the points standings in his final season but the other three drivers all finishing lower than 20th. Popli noted those struggles but said: “Chase is an amazing guy, he’s so good to the fans and genuinely a nice guy and that reflects our values, so it made sense to keep working with the team. I know they had a tough year, but I’m confident they’ll hopefully look better next year.” Popli said the company judged whether it got a proper return on investment based on factors including on-track performance, PR impressions and on-air screentime.
The brand tracks awareness and brand recall, and checks in with its dealers to see how they feel about the sponsorship. It has done multiple national TV advertisements leveraging the NASCAR relationship, typically shooting light-hearted spots that see Briscoe and SHR co-owner Tony Stewart tease each other while sitting in tractors. Competitors to Mahindra in the tractor space include John Deere and Kubota, the latter of which is in NASCAR with Trackhouse Racing.
Mahindra is preparing a new line of products it will soon release and will utilize the NASCAR relationship to promote it. The renewal for SHR, co-owned by Stewart and F1 team owner Gene Haas, is particularly crucial after it lost two other big sponsors this year, Smithfield Foods and Anheuser-Busch.
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