June 17, 2003

Welcome to the Nextel Cup!???: It appears that Nextel is in line to sign a deal with NASCAR to become the official sponsor replacing RJR's Winston brand. According to the ESPN article NASCAR went looking for a new sponsor after RJR indicated it may need to pull out.

posted by meanie to other at 11:58 AM - 3 comments

Does anyone else think that smokes are a much-better fit for the NASCAR crowd than cell phones? I can see the ads now... "Hey, Cletus! We don't have ta holler no more!" "Always be in touch with your cousin and your wife — even if they are the same person." "For more information about upcoming rallies, dial *KKK."

posted by wfrazerjr at 12:05 PM on June 17, 2003

One would think that even NASCAR would prefer not to be so publicly associated with tobacco products these days.

posted by billsaysthis at 01:51 PM on June 17, 2003

I'm a little surprised that the high-brow folks at sportsfilter would be engaging in NASCAR-bashing. Not that it doesn't deserve it, but still. My take is that I'm very surprised it didn't go to a bigger, more consumer-fucussed company like Coca-cola corp. It looks to me like it's the beginning of the end for NASCAR's growth bubble. I'm sure NexTel won't be paying nearly as much as RJR was. Also taking races out of the south and moving them to places like California Speedway, plus rumours of Toyota running cup teams in '05 would really stick in the craw of NASCAR's core fans. Hope they know what they're doing. Actually I don't, since NASCAR has been eating open-wheel's mindshare over the last few years and anything to curtail its dominance might give CART some breathing room. (the IRL on the other hand can go die in a corner, the sooner the better)

posted by Space Coyote at 09:12 PM on June 17, 2003

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