On the heels of Tony Stewart winning his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship last night, several of his sponsors are congratulating his effort. Office Depot ran an ad in USA Today featuring Stewart with the header, “Congratulations seems like the wrong word when describing the unbelievable, crazy, historical, astonishing, inconceivably, awesome run that Tony just gave us. Wow (now that’s better).” NASCAR also ran an ad in USA Today featuring Stewart with the copy, “Destiny waits for no man. You have to chase it down.” Stewart appeared this morning on ESPN's "SportsCenter" wearing a shirt that featured logos for Office Depot and Mobil 1. Meanwhile, NASCAR.com is offering a variety of Stewart championship merchandise, including T-shirts, caps and die-cast cars (THE DAILY).
WINNING OFF THE TRACK: In Indianapolis, Curt Cavin cited sources as saying that Stewart’s "annual income from driving for and owning Stewart-Haas Racing" is estimated at $20M. Stewart’s “charm carries over to boardrooms, where he’s persuaded executives at Office Depot, Mobil 1, Burger King, Chevrolet, the U.S. Army, Coca-Cola, Bass Pro Shops and GoDaddy to support the NASCAR team he took control of at the end of the 2008 season.” Chevrolet VP/Performance Vehicles & Motorsports Jim Campbell said, "He's a natural leader, and you like to work with him.” He added, “He can get very intense when it's time for him to go to work on the racetrack, but he has a very quick wit, and he likes to have fun with people" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 11/20). SCENEDAILY.com’s Bob Pockrass noted Stewart “indicated he’s at least close to not losing money.” Stewart said, “This is a big industry and it's my goal from day one has been to be able to look Gene Haas in the eyes and shake his hand and say, ‘Hey, it didn't cost you a dime this year to go race, I want you to just come to the track and have fun and enjoy what you've built.’ Our economy has been rough the last three years and it's been a challenge to do that.” He added, “But I'm proud with the new partners that we have had come on board. We are in the best financial situation our company has been in” (SCENEDAILY.com, 11/20).
