Koch gets sponsor for Darlington: Nationwide Series driver #41-Blake Koch doesn’t like to be the center of controversy, but a recent controversy surrounding his religious beliefs has brought some sponsorship to his Rick Ware Racing team. Earlier this year, Koch lost a 20-race sponsorship at least partially because of a dispute with ESPN over what Koch believes was the religious and political overtones of his sponsor’s message. Blake Koch, right, is a believer in good things happening from tough situations, and that’s certainly happened to him at Darlington. (AP Photo)Koch was sponsored by the Rise Up and Register Campaign, which is designed to educate people about the importance of registering to vote in upcoming elections. But ESPN rejected the advertisement from the campaign, Koch said, because of his religious activism. After losing the sponsorship, Koch had to start and park his car two weeks ago at Richmond and then missed the race at Talladega when rain washed out qualifying and he was in the team’s third car because he didn’t have a sponsor. This weekend at Darlington Raceway, he’ll get to run the entire race thanks to an unlikely source. Dr. Gregory Sexton, a South Carolina doctor, doesn’t follow NASCAR but saw Koch on Fox News talking about losing some support from Rise Up and Register and decided to put his Capital Plastic Surgery logo on the car. It’s the second one-race sponsorship Koch has landed since the controversy. Christiancinema.com sponsored him at Texas.(Sporting News)(5-11-2012)
