Miller Lite will extend its longstanding deal with Team Penske's No. 2 Ford in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, but the brewer will reduce its footprint next year. Miller will have 11 primary paint schemes in ’18 for Brad Keselowski's ride. The brewer, which has won 65 total races with Penske and 20 with Keselowski, originally sponsored the No. 2 for the whole season before going down to 24 races annually when it signed its last extension in ’13. However, parent company MillerCoors has been in a state of flux amid last year’s SABMiller-AB InBev merger. The extension is for multiple years and will see the two sides’ relationship, which began in '91, now extend past 27 years. That is almost double the 14-year average tenure for Team Penske partners. Miller Lite’s last renewal was valued at more than $13M a year, but it was unclear as of presstime where its new number will net out at. Meanwhile, Discount Tire is stepping up to fill the void left by Miller Lite. The Scottsdale-based company will serve as Keselowski's primary sponsor for 10 races. Discount Tire has been with Team Penske as a NASCAR Xfinity Series sponsor since ’10. Both Discount and Miller will serve as associate sponsors for the Cup races in which they are not primary sponsors, and Discount will also continue to serve as a primary sponsor of Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford in the Xfinity Series. Other companies who serve as primary sponsors for the No. 2 throughout the year are Alliance Truck Parts, Wurth, AutoTrader and Fitzgerald Glider Kits.
TAKING THE BIG RACES: Discount Tire will take the primary paint schemes for the Daytona 500 and next year’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, an indication of the importance of the company's elevated role for Penske. Teams routinely give their biggest backers first dibs on choosing the races in which they would like to serve as primary sponsor. Team Penske VP/Marketing & Communications Jonathan Gibson indicated that the team has renewed all 12 partners whose contracts were expiring this year, and that the team has also gained some new unannounced partners. Those likely will be for the No. 12 Ford that the team is adding next season as it brings Ryan Blaney back in house from his stint with alliance team Wood Brothers Racing. Discount Tire does its sports marketing in house and works with Richards Public Relations for PR.
