The Longest Sponsor-Driver Relationships In NASCAR

In the past 20 years or so, we’ve seen the price to actually compete in the highest levels of NASCAR increase substantially. As a result, the days of single companies footing the bill for an entire season — or simply sticking around for a long time — seem to have passed. The connections between drivers, fans and sponsors are not as strong as they once were. For some fans, it is used as a reason to back away from their fandom as they simply do not recognize who is who on the track.

Prior to the 2024 NASCAR season finale in Phoenix Raceway, this video that Denny Hamlin posted to his social media prior to the final race of the year indicated that his relationship with FedEx is over after more than 19 seasons. Although his time in the No. 11 doesn’t cover all of FedEx’s time with Joe Gibbs Racing (remember that its first driver was Jason Leffler), FedEx had backed Hamlin for his entire career in the NASCAR Cup Series.

To that end, we’re going to take a look at some of the longest and strongest relationships between a sponsor and a driver in NASCAR’s national series.

Read all of Frontstretch‘s content looking back on 2024 here

Austin Dillon & Bass Pro Shops

These days, some race fans are not the biggest fans of Austin Dillon. The finish from Richmond Raceway earlier this year is just the latest example of that.

One aspect of Dillon’s career that can be celebrated is his long-term relationship with Bass Pro Shops, one that predates his time in the Cup Series.

Bass Pro Shops has been a primary sponsor for Dillon since 2010, when he first began driving full time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. In two seasons there, Dillon won four races, had 17 top-five finishes, 32 top 10s, 12 poles and won the 2011 championship.

During Dillon’s time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Bass Pro Shops ultimately took a backseat to AdvoCare, but it was still on the car as an associate sponsor full time in both years, plus a couple of primary races in 2012. Dillon’s relationship is likely part of the reason why he raced the fall Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway in 2013 for Stewart-Haas Racing in place of the injured Tony Stewart.

When Dillon moved to Cup to replace Kevin Harvick in 2014, Bass Pro Shops made the move up as a primary sponsor for two races and an associate for the remainder of the year.

For the past 11 seasons, Bass Pro Shops has been an irregular presence with Dillon and Richard Childress Racing, in addition to its backing of Martin Truex Jr. at Furniture Row Racing and JGR. It’s been the primary sponsor of two of Dillon’s victories in that time.

Chase Elliott & NAPA Auto Parts

While Chase Elliott has had a number of sponsors over the years in the Cup Series (Kelley Blue Book, Mountain Dew, SunEnergy1, UniFirst, etc.), he has had a constant in his career since he went full time while still in high school: NAPA Auto Parts.

NAPA signed to serve as Elliott’s primary sponsor in the Xfinity Series for 2014. Remember that it had just left Michael Waltrip Racing at the end of 2013 in the fallout from Spingate. It wanted to remain in the sport but have something that was a little lower profile.

Elliott in 2014 had just turned 18 and run par -time in the Trucks the previous year.

More than 10 years on, it is clear that Elliott is NASCAR’s No. 1 babyface today. NAPA has been on Elliott’s Cup car for all 322 starts in either a primary or secondary role. In that time, Elliott has 19 wins, 104 top-five finishes, 171 top 10s, 12 poles and the 2020 championship. He also has four Xfinity wins, 27 top fives, 53 top 10s, two poles and the 2014 championship.

NAPA signed a multi-year contract extension in 2022 to continue to sponsor Elliott in 24 races a year.

Joey Logano & Shell/Pennzoil

Technically, Shell/Pennzoil is an inherited sponsorship for the 2024 Cup champion. Team Penske already had the deal for two years prior to Logano joining the team.

The Shell/Pennzoil sponsorship left RCR after 2010 to join what was supposed to be a new third car, No. 22, at Penske Racing. However, sponsorship woes caused Penske to park the No. 12. The No. 22 saw Kurt Busch take the wheel for what was a decent season on track that was overshadowed by outbursts.

AJ Allmendinger replaced Busch for 2012 and ran the first 17 races until he got suspended for failing a drug test in July. With Allmendinger ultimately released, Sam Hornish Jr. finished the year in the car.

Logano, who had just been released from JGR after four years, was offered the No. 22 ride on the advice of Brad Keselowski. Since then, Logano has three championships, 34 wins, 151 top-five finishes, 246 top 10s and 26 poles.

The yellow and red colors will remain with Team Penske for a while. Shell/Pennzoil is in its third contract to sponsor the No. 22, a multi-year deal that started in 2023. 2025 will be Logano’s 13th year under the Shell/Pennzoil banner. With FedEx gone from Hamlin, this will be the longest relationship solely in Cup between a driver and a sponsor.

NASCAR Xfinity Series

The Xfinity Series tends to have a lot of drivers coming and going as they either move to Cup, or run out of funding and end up out of the series. This year’s champion, Justin Allgaier, is the exception to that rule.

Allgaier came onto the scene toward the end of a period when top Cup teams would stockpile a bunch of prospects into development contracts and build them up. In his case, he was in with Penske. After winning the ARCA Menards Series championship at Toledo in 2008, he moved up to the Xfinity Series in a Penske Dodge with sponsorship from Verizon. He won once at Bristol Motor Speedway and finished fourth in points in 2010.

After a potential Cup ride for 2011 went away, Allgaier moved to Turner Motorsports. It was there where he was first associated with Brandt, a company that manufactures products for plant nutrition, plant protection and more.

Brandt had just dipped its toe into the sport the previous year by sponsoring Peyton Sellers with R3 Motorsports at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Sellers finished 20^th in what is the most recent race for the series at the egg-shaped oval.

While Brandt has not been the primary sponsor of Allgaier’s car in every race since then, it has had primary sponsorships with Allgaier for 14 consecutive years. Allgaier drove with Brandt sponsorship at Turner for three years in the Xfinity Series, scoring two wins, 18 top-five and 52 top-10 finishes while finishing third in points in 2011.

By that point, Harry Scott had bought into Turner, forming Turner Scott Motorsports. Scott then purchased Phoenix Racing, rebranded it as HScott Motorsports and moved Allgaier to Cup to drive the No. 51. It did not go well, as Allgaier had only one top-10 finish (an eighth at Bristol in 2015) in 71 starts.

Allgaier left HScott after 2015 and returned to the Xfinity Series with Brandt behind him. He settled in at JR Motorsports in its No. 7 in place of Regan Smith. In nine years, he’s won 23 races and had 124 top-five and 198 top-10 finishes.

While Allgaier joked about retiring in his post-race interview after winning the Xfinity championship in Phoenix, he’ll be back for a 15^th straight year with Brandt backing in NASCAR in 2025.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

In the Truck Series, there is an obvious answer to this question. It’s the same as when you ask about the longest driver-team relationship in the series. Matt Crafton has been in the series since 2000, when he made his debut in the season finale at Auto Club Speedway.

Since then, he has driven full time in the series for the past 24 years in a row. Menards joined ThorSport Racing as the primary sponsor on his truck in 2002. Aside from 2004, when Crafton left ThorSport and drove for Kevin Harvick Inc. with Goodwrench sponsorship, he has been in the No. 88 with Menards sponsorship ever since.

Crafton has made 517 starts in the Trucks with Menards backing over 22 seasons. In those races, he has his three championships, all 15 of victories, 129 of his 135 top-five finishes and 299 top 10s. He also has all 16 of his poles.

These days, the sight of Crafton’s neon yellow Menards entry in the Truck Series is about as commonplace as The Price Is Right being on CBS at 11 a.m. ET on weekdays. They’re always there and ready to go, even if Crafton’s 2024 season didn’t exactly go to plan. The truck wasn’t always neon yellow, as the relationship with ThorSport goes back to the days of Johns Manville’s blue taking precedence over Menards’ stripes.