Acting to position Pennzoil motor oil squarely at the forefront of NASCAR competition, Roush Racing and Pennzoil have announced a lubrication sponsorship and technology partnership across all Roush Racing teams in all NASCAR series. The program will include Pennzoil participation and associate identification on all Roush Racing NASCAR Nextel Cup (NNC) teams, beginning with the Daytona 500 in 2004. Additionally, Roush Racing will feature a special Pennzoil design and paint scheme on the #16 Greg Biffle NNC entry at Pocono Raceway next June. Capping the sponsorship announcement was the news that Mark Martin, the winningest driver in the history of the NASCAR Series will ‘unretire’ to race the Pennzoil colors as part of a three driver Busch Series ‘Pennzoil Super Team’ consisting of Martin, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton. The three drivers will combine to race different Pennzoil entries in nine Busch Series events during 2004, beginning with Mark Martin at Daytona in February. The Pennzoil-Roush partnership draws on Pennzoil’s advanced lubrication technologies, and will provide Roush Racing with not just lubrication products but also with the expertise to maximize the performance side of the engineering equation. An announcement regarding the entire nine race ‘Pennzoil’ Busch Series schedule for Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton will be made at a later time. Mark Martin will kick off the 2004 Busch Series season at Daytona in a Pennzoil Roush Ford.(Pennzoil PR)(11-2-2003) More on the deal…and a Kodak mention: The money for the new Roush sponsorship is estimated at $10 million, enough for associate sponsorship decals on all Roush cars and for a 9-race Busch program that will kick off at Daytona. Mark Martin, Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth will each run three Busch races. “This is a full 10-car associate sponsorship,” said Geoff Smith, the head of Roush Racing. “So this is a different strategy, and there are different advantages. You have Coke with multiple drivers and now Pennzoil with multiple drivers.” Kodak has been interested in a similar program, instead of backing a single team.( Winston Salem Journal ), see an image of the scheme on my 2004 Busch Series Paint Schemes page .(11-3-2003)
