Dale Earnhardt Inc. wanted a pilot program in which to train aspiring drivers and crew members. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wanted a taste of race team ownership. Kraft-Nabisco wanted to tie more of its brands to NASCAR.
All three entities got what they wanted with the creation of Chance 2 Racing, a limited-schedule Busch program that will be run out of the DEI shop this season, with Earnhardt Jr. as car owner and an array of Nabisco brands as sponsors.
The connection extends Kraft Foods' already broad reach in NASCAR, where it has used associate sponsorships of Winston Cup programs of DEI, Roush Racing and Richard Childress Racing to promote its brands.
Nabisco, a division of Kraft, will sponsor Chance 2 entries in three Busch Series races, kicking off on Feb. 15 in Daytona Beach with Earnhardt Jr. driving an Oreo Cookies car. Ritz Crackers also will take a prominent place on the hood.
The company will put Fig Newton and Maxwell House on a car driven by Steve Park in Las Vegas on March 1. And it will put Kraft Cheese Nips and Fig Newton on another Park ride in Charlotte on May 24.
Nabisco will tie to NASCAR's all-star race, The Winston, putting Nilla Wafers on a car it will share with Napa Auto Parts, with Michael Waltrip driving. And Kraft will put two cars on the track for a Winston Cup race in Chicago in July, using the entries to back the cheese brand's 100th anniversary celebration. Jason Keller will drive one car. Kraft will share space with AOL on the other, a Richard Childress Racing entry driven by Jeff Green, which protects the brand in the event that Keller fails to qualify.
Nabisco executives decided to expand the program after seeing double-digit sales spikes for Oreo as a result of a national promotion featuring Earnhardt Jr. last year.
"With the success we had with the Busch events we did, we said we have to do more of this," said Mike Tilley, senior category promotions manager for Nabisco. "Our program is certainly stepping up in scope and being much more impactful this year."
The cornerstone of the relationship is a "Super Snack 500" sweepstakes that puts Earnhardt Jr. on packaging for an array of Nabisco cookie and snack brands. The contest drives consumers to an online racing game that features replicas of the Nabisco cars that will run on the Busch circuit. Ten winners get to go to Chicago to play the computer game against Earnhardt Jr., Waltrip or Park.
Through its sponsorships with DEI, Roush and Childress, Nabisco has built a portfolio of high-profile drivers without incurring the cost of a full-season, primary Winston Cup sponsorship, typically priced at $10 million to $16 million.
Tilley would not discuss Nabisco's spending levels.
"To us, the primary sponsorship lends itself much more to a company looking for media, which isn't a priority for us," Tilley said.
Kraft and Nabisco also use the sponsorships to entertain grocers at races, as well as to operate show-car programs.
Nabisco will get most of its on-track visibility through Earnhardt Jr.'s Busch race appearances. "In a Busch race, you can be the star," Tilley said. "You can bring in Jr. and own that venue for a day."
