When I first started watching NASCAR in the dim and distant past, some 20 years ago now, it was absolutely the norm for one company to be a primary sponsor all season long. Drivers would be intimately associated with a singular brand, and the company adorning the hoods and the sides of their cars would be as well-known as their car numbers — the Budweiser No. 8 of Dale Earnhardt Jr. being one such example.
Looking back at 2005, my first season working in the sport, and you can truly see how much this was the case: Jeff Gordon in the rainbow colors of Dupont, Tony Stewart in the burnt orange of Home Depot, Jimmie Johnson in the blue of Lowe’s; Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield both with Dodge Dealers/UAW schemes; Junior in the aforementioned iconic Budweiser red, Dale Jarrett in the brown of UPS, the irrepressible Mark Martin in the Viagra car, Rusty Wallace in the retirement season of his illustrious career with Miller Lite, Michael Waltrip in the NAPA ride, Casey Mears in the red-and-white of Target, Dave Blaney in the Jack Daniels machine and Kevin Harvick with GM Goodwrench, to name just a few. Other drivers with at least 32 of 36 races with the same primary sponsor included Elliott Sadler (M&Ms), Ryan Newman (Alltel) and Jamie McMurray with Texaco/Havoline.
The 2005 season was also when FedEx joined NASCAR as a sponsor, with the sadly departed Jason Leffler as the wheelman initially carrying the colors on the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing machine. And, to come full circle, in a story yesterday (Sept. 24) in the Sports Business Journal, veteran journalist Adam Stern broke the news that FedEx is looking to reduce its presence with Joe Gibbs Racing on Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota and could even leave the sport entirely at the conclusion of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Now, on the one hand, this isn’t exactly surprising news. FedEx had begun cutting back their iconic sponsorship in 2021 after 15 years of sponsoring just about every race, and last year the company ran as primary sponsor for only 13 of the 36 races. This year, the primary sponsor car count is at nine to date, with a few more to follow before we finish up at Phoenix Raceway, but the pattern is clear to see – a heavy, significant reduction from sponsoring every race.
This pattern isn’t something specific to NASCAR, however, with the transportation, e-commerce and logistics behemoth looking to reduce expenses — a number publicly quoted at four billion dollars — as part of their DRIVE cost-cutting scheme, with some of those claw backs coming via eliminating pieces of their extensive sports portfolio. FedEx recently ceased, for example, their naming rights deal for the stadium of the Washington Commanders NFL team, a contract that had been in place for a quarter of a century.
All told, if this is it for FedEx in NASCAR, it’s been a phenomenal run with Hamlin. Yes, as some will trip over themselves to gleefully remind you, it hasn’t ended with a NASCAR Cup Series title, but 47 of Hamlin’s 54 career wins have come in FedEx colors, including all three of his Daytona 500 victories. Not to mention hours and hours of broadcast time with the FedEx car running up front on any given Sunday afternoon.
Kenny Wallace described it as being “one of the best sponsor relationships ever in NASCAR history,” and that feels unerringly accurate not least when you consider 47 wins would equate to the 18th most wins by a driver in the all-time standings. And looking at this list from 2023, it would put FedEx as the eighth-most-winning sponsor of all time. Not bad, however you want to slice it.
The reality is that a nearly-two-decade run with one brand is incredible. Even more so given the plethora of sponsorship and branding content opportunities available today, versus what was on the table in 2005. To say it’s a whole new world is putting it mildly. The longevity of FedEx’s run with NASCAR should be praised and not considered a sign that something is wrong with the sponsorship model or that this is bad for our beloved sport. Over the years we’ve seen big sponsors come and go. Just look at the list above from 2005 – essentially all those brands listed have exited the sport, or at least the business of sponsoring specific cars. And you know what? They’ve all been replaced with other big (and smaller) brands eager to step up and be a part of the second-biggest sport in America.
NASCAR has is and always will be a sport where sponsors are crucial. Calling sponsors the “lifeblood” of the sport is almost beyond a cliche. And the sponsorship process has always been cyclical. As one company exits stage left another will join – keen to be a part of it – and on it goes. While it remains to be seen if this is indeed it for FedEx and if Hamlin can get another win in the white, purple and orange, the fact remains it’s a sponsorship that should be celebrated. And who knows, maybe it will be, at long last, a Cup championship in the final race for Hamlin and FedEx.
Danny starts his 12th year with Frontstretch in 2018, writing the Tuesday signature column 5 Points To Ponder. An English transplant living in San Francisco, by way of New York City, he’s had an award-winning marketing career with some of the biggest companies sponsoring sports. Working with racers all over the country, his freelance writing has even reached outside the world of racing to include movie screenplays.