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Marketing and Sponsorship

Dow Chemical To Become Primary Sponsor Of Austin Dillon's No. 3 Cup Ride

The Dow Chemical Co. has signed a multiyear sponsorship with Richard Childress Racing that will see it become the primary sponsor of the No. 3 car driven by Austin Dillon in the Sprint Cup Series. Financial terms of the 16-race deal were not available, but Sprint Cup sponsorships typically go for more than $400,000 a race. That would put the value of Dow’s deal at more than $6.4M. The No. 3 car has not been featured in a Sprint Cup race since Dale Earnhardt died in '01. Dow Automotive Systems President Steve Henderson said that multiple Dow business units will be featured on the No. 3 car during the season, including the automotive division, agriculture group and the building and construction unit. Henderson added, “This is a business driven program. It’s driven by businesses that want to participate in it. We see an opportunity to create a great return on investment.” Dow will share primary sponsorships with General Mills and another company, which has not been announced. It may develop a NASCAR-related advertising campaign targeted to consumers, but the focus will be on business-to-business opportunities. The company plans to host key clients at races and have Dillon, [team owner Richard] Childress and others speak to their organization. Henderson said, “It’s more than just Austin. It’s the RCR organization ... and the No. 3 coming back has an element of interest for us, as well. Just as (Austin’s) finding his legs in the highest level of NASCAR, so is Dow, so it’s a perfect relationship for us.”

EXPANDING ITS RELATIONSHIP: Dow began formally working with RCR in '10 when its automotive division began providing technology support to the team. RCR used lubrications and carbon fiber products developed by Dow. The relationship expanded into a small sponsorship last season when Dow sponsored the No. 31 car driven by Jeff Burton and its Mycogen Seeds brand sponsored the No. 33 car driven by Dillon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Henderson said, “We started slow and picked up steam in engaging our organization and customers. We found significant reasons to take another look (at a full sponsorships). The opportunity to move to Cup and the No. 3 seemed excellent for us.” Dow joins Yeungling and Wix Filters to become the latest in a string of new deals signed by RCR for the '14 season. The team lost driver Kevin Harvick for next year, and he took sponsors such as Budweiser and Jimmie John’s with him to his new team, Stewart-Haas Racing. But RCR has been successful in replacing those sponsors. The team hired former SHR driver Ryan Newman and filled all of the primary sponsorships on his No. 31 car with CAT, Quicken Loans, Wix Filters and Kwikset. It only has six primary sponsorships available on Dillon’s No. 3 car, said RCR VP/Business Development Rick Penn. He said, “We’ve brought in some really nice, robust sponsors. From a primary perspective, we’re sitting in a good spot and we’ve focused on bringing in new sponsors.”

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