Sometimes A Nascar Driver Has To Say No To A Sponsor

When a company expresses interest in sponsoring a NASCAR driver whether that driver will say yes or no might depend on where they are at in their career. For a younger driver saying no to a sponsor is almost unthinkable.

John Hunter Nemechek comes from a racing family. His dad Joe raced in the Cup series for 24 years, and the young Nemechek raced in the Truck series for 11 years. He is now focusing on the Xfinity series and is currently in his fifth year there.

For drivers who are at this stage of their career, saying no is a tough position to be in.

“Sponsorship is so hard to come by,” he said. “You try and seek every opportunity that fits your brand, that fits who you are and fits your interests.”

He added an addendum though.

“It’s not really saying no, it’s more about trying to figure out if it’s the right fit for you and your brand and if you align with that brand well.”

Then there are drivers like Joey Logano. The two time, and reigning NASCAR Cup series champion races for Team Penske. In his 16 years in the NASCAR Cup series Logano has 32 wins to go with his two titles.

At this point in his career, Logano is in the enviable position of not having to worry about saying no to a potential sponsor. Though there are some instances when it makes sense to pass on a sponsorship offer.

“You want to understand what you’re endorsing, right?” Logano said. “If you’re endorsing a product, the last thing you want to do is endorse the product that’s not going to help people or do what they say it’s going to do.”

Logano was referring to his latest sponsorship opportunity, one presented to him by a friend. The offer was for a personal services contract with The Good Feet Store, a manufacturer and retailer of custom fitted arch supports. Like Nemechek, Logano wanted to make sure it aligned with his brand. Unlike Nemechek he took the “right fit” part a little more literally.

“Naturally, I did a little homework,” Logano said chuckling. “I went to a Good Feet Store unannounced as a surprise to learn more about what they do from the customer level. And it was a great experience. They obviously treated me really well. I learned about their arch supports and what it’s about.”

“At the time I didn’t think I needed anything. I had some lower back, you know, just racing for my whole life the lower backs a little tight. You know, my knees hurt at times.

“I got the education on that’s not really just your feet; how your feet are connected to everything else. I learned a little bit more about it. “

That initial visit paid off in the following weeks. The arch supports not only helped ease that back tightness, but Logano was surprised how much his overall balance improved.

“Now that I wear them all the time, I got to have them,” he said. “One, it like gets an instant performance gain right from the balance piece, which to me is huge. Right? If you’re any kind of athlete and you can find a performance gain that is as easy as putting an arch support in your shoe, well that’s a no-brainer right there.”

Logano also learned how the arch supports could help him away from the track as well. The 32-year-old is a father of three, all under the age of six. It keeps him pretty active and gave him more evidence before he made the decision.

“If you go to your local theme park with your kids, like I’ve done a few times,” Logano said adding with a laugh, “I know if I’m standing up all day long waiting in those stinking lines, my feet hurt, my back hurt, I’m exhausted.

“My family and I, we went to one in February before we announced the partnership,” he said. “I had them in my shoes and I felt way better at the end of the day. And I said, ‘all right, it’s proven I’m on it. And this makes sense’”.

Those experiences led to Logano signing that personal services contract with the company. It’s a partnership that for Logano is authentic, and very real.

“That’s why we decided to move forward with them,” he said, adding with a chuckle. “’Okay, this is great. This is kind of like one of the greatest secrets that no one knows about you.’”

“If I could help them kind of tell their story and help them grow their business in a way that also helps people and some of the pain that they feel, why wouldn’t I?”

While getting sponsorship for Logano isn’t an issue, he admits that he has had to turn some down in the past.

“Yes, because there’s things to me in my moral values, things that I just don’t agree with or that maybe steering people down the wrong direction,” Logan said. “Those type of things I don’t feel very comfortable in promoting. Right?

“You want to promote items that you use daily, right? That’s one thing. And that makes it authentic and it’s easy to sell, right? If you don’t use it, how do you sell something? You don’t even know what you’re selling. So, so that piece of it is important and you just want to make sure the core values and what they stand for is aligned with what I stand for.”

John Hunter Nemechek may have taken a lesson from Logano’s playbook this past weekend at Martinsville Speedway. Nemechek won the Xfinity race in dominating fashion. After it was over, Nemechek did a celebratory burnout; one that become so intense his car actually caught fire. He was able to get out of the car at the start finish line as track workers extinguished the fire. Ironically his car was sponsored by a fire protection company, the same one that supplied the fire extinguishers being used to put on the fire under his car.