Hendrick Motorsports today is announcing a host of sponsorship renewals, including one with AARP that involves a primary deal, as the team tries to solidify its remaining inventory for the ’17 season. AARP, which has been with the NASCAR team since ’11, is renewing for one year and will be the primary sponsor of Kasey Kahne’s Monster Energy Cup Series No. 5 Chevy at Sunday's race at Richmond Int'l Raceway with the Drive to End Hunger paint scheme. AARP had sponsored Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 before he retired after the ’15 season. HMS today is also announcing that Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina is renewing its associate sponsorship of Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Chevy, while MAC Tools -- HMS’s second-longest-tenured sponsor dating back to the ‘80s -- also has renewed its associate deal for this season. BCBS' deal has been focused toward spreading the word of the company’s healthy living efforts like when it painted Charlotte Motor Speedway’s pit walls pink last year for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Meanwhile, HMS will announce Bank of America has renewed its presenting sponsorship of HendrickMotorsports.com through '17. The site is averaging more than 1.5 million page views a month so far this year, said HMS VP/Marketing Pat Perkins. He is still searching for an anchor partner for next year to replace Farmers Insurance, which is exiting the sport after the ’17 season, and finalizing renewals for this year for sponsors including Lowe’s. He added of how HMS is doing with sponsorship overall, “It’s all going very, very well. We’ve wrapped up some stuff that we’ll announce soon and in the process of finalizing some other deals." He added, "There’s a lot of interest building again in the sport. For us, I look at what we’re doing digitally, at how we’re using our brand platform and our B2B platform (with team Owner Rick Hendrick’s Hendrick Automotive Group) and with our fans, and there’s a lot of great value in the sport.”
