The Home Depot is planning to leave NASCAR "after its contract with Joe Gibbs Racing ends this season," according to sources cited by Tripp Mickle of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Sources said that JGR is in talks with Dollar General about “filling the void left by Home Depot." Dollar General, which is already the “primary sponsor for 27 races” on Matt Kenseth’s No. 20 Sprint Cup entry, is “expected to sign on as the primary sponsor of the No. 20 car for 30-plus races” in ‘15. The Home Depot has been a primary NASCAR sponsor since ’99, and its exit comes after “several years of reductions in its marketing commitment to NASCAR.” The company in ‘12 “declined to renew its title sponsorship of Speed’s NASCAR program ‘Race Day presented by The Home Depot.’” The end of that TV deal “coincided with a 12-race reduction in Home Depot’s sponsorship of the No. 20 car, after the company had sponsored all 36 races for a decade.” The Home Depot followed that with a “five-race reduction last year and a 10-race reduction this year.” It then “shifted its Home Depot logo off the car and replaced it with the logo of its tool company, Husky” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/23 issue). See the complete listing of sponsors and contacts for Home Depot at Resource Guide LIVE.
CANDY CRUSH: FOXSPORTS.com's Tom Jensen reported JGR President J.D. Gibbs prior to Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 "confirmed that contrary to recent rumors, sponsor M&M's will remain with Kyle Busch in the No. 18 JGR Toyota next year." While Gibbs did not confirm Carl Edwards would "leave Roush Fenway Racing to join JGR, he said this year represents a better chance to expand to four cars than in prior years" (FOXSPORTS.com, 6/22).
