NASCAR officials confirmed Friday that Camping World is negotiating to become the new title sponsor of the truck series next season, replacing Craftsman Tools. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Camping World can continue to sponsor Harvick’s truck if the company becomes the title sponsor of the series. “That’s not a problem,” Poston said. “And in fact, we would encourage them to do that. We don’t want to do anything that would impact team sponsorship. But we want to emphasize there is no deal. Camping World is one of several companies that are very interested in the truck series.”(ESPN.com)(9-26-2008)
UPDATE: Kevin Harvick Inc. won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship with Camping World on the hood of Ron Hornaday’s truck last year, but the company continues to look for additional ways to market to NASCAR fans. One of those is being among the companies negotiating with NASCAR to sponsor the truck series. “We’ve enjoyed being involved with that organization [at KHI] on several levels and it’s a very first-class organization,” said Camping World Director of Motorsports Kurt Hunt on Friday. “They brought us a championship and hopefully one on the horizon. It’s kind of like college. You don’t graduate with the major you started with. Camping World has increased its sponsorships in NASCAR this year by putting its name on several races as well as NASCAR’s East Series and West Series. Hunt said it was too early in the discussions to talk about whether Camping World would remain as sponsor of those regional circuits. Hunt indicated that Camping World, which has branched into the rental business, is doing well despite the slow economy and has the ability to spend the marketing money. Hunt wouldn’t speculate on when a deal to sponsor the series would be completed. “I’m not sure we’re under any particular timeline right now. Certainly, the participants in the series are eager, the fans are eager, the media is eager to have that part of the NASCAR drama come to an end,” Hunt said. “It’s probably in everybody’s best interest for NASCAR to land on the right square in the next 30 days or so.”(SceneDaily.com)(9-27-2008)
