10 Ridiculous NASCAR Sponsors

NASCAR is a very profitable business in auto racing, but they didn't achieve that growth by just selling merchandise and tickets to races. NASCAR sponsors play a huge role in the development of the sport and really helped grow the motorsports racing into what it has become today. In fact, NASCAR racing relies on sponsors more than any other sport in the world. The reasoning behind it is because NASCAR fans are extremely brand loyal. Their fan base spends over $2 Billion each year just on the merchandise. If you can get your name associated with the brand, it could prove to be very beneficial for your company.

I'm sure you've seen NASCAR's sponsorship models which feature official partners or premier partners such as Anheuser-Busch beer, Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Nationwide, Geico, or Monster Energy. These's are some successful companies and they put up millions of dollars in order to have their names on the premier series races. However, there have been a number of ridiculous sponsors who have also tried their luck at getting in on the action with not as much success. Let's look back on a few of them and we'll see if you remember any of the odd names from the stock car racing.

10 Oddball NASCAR Sponsors
Affliction Clothing
Matt Kenseth, had some issues landing good sponsors back in 2011. He ended up with the clothing brand that signed on for five races with their logos on the hood of his race car. Affliction is not exactly the type of clothing that the race car driver would wear, or a majority of the NASCAR fans either to be honest. Kenseth didn't manage to get any first place finishes for the clothing brand, but did get a second place finish as well as 3 other races that he ended up in the top 10.

Poison
Winner of the 1990 Daytona 500, Derrike Cope, is known for some uncommon sponsorships. He normally had some kind of music or rock festival sponsor on his number 37 Ford race car. In 2002, he went with the unique poison paint scheme, which was a shock to say the least. Although he sported the sponsor for a while, he couldn't manage to bring in a top position. The best he was able to get was a 34th place finish at Homestead.

RedneckJunk.com
Speaking of Derrike Cope, he's also involved in this one in 2004. Redneck Junk was a classified ad service that sold the stereotypical "redneck" hobby choices. Although a little odd, it didn't seem extremely out of place as the sponsor for the number 50 Dodge car. Cope was unable to make much happen during this time, got a last place finish, and eventually Arnold Motorsports failed after a bad truck campaign.

Sephora (Kim Kardashian products)
Sephora is a big makeup outlet, and used this time in 2010 to promote Kim Kardashians fragrence lineup and a few other products of hers. 2002 Camping World Truck Series Champion, Mike Bliss, was the driver of this car. He played off the sponsorship pretty naturally, but unfortunately couldn't gain much traction with the team. He crashed during one race which resulted in a poor finish, and the driver left the team around 4 races later.

Boudreaux's Butt Paste
With its unique name, Boudreaux's Butt Paste was a cream for diaper rashes. The product was aimed to all of the young mothers out there watching who had children. In the mid 2000's, Former school principal, Kim Crosby, drove the sponsored car. She had about 10 career starts but on multiple occasions was black flagged for being too slow. After an unsuccessful career, by 2005, the deal was over and Crosby moved on to driving monster trucks instead.

Viagra
Mike Bliss was one of the drivers of the Viagra sponsored car but didn't have much luck. Mark Martin however, also drove a car with this logo on the hood. It wasn't exactly a huge failure, the sponsor was frequent for about 6 years and they managed to grab 3 wins and a couple close finishes. It did, however also have some hectic years leading up to the wins.

Depend
This company made adult diapers and boy did it seem out of place on a race car. They originally went after football players but landed in NASCAR territory later on as they sponsored Juan Montoya's number 42 Chevrolet. He surprisingly did pretty well, bringing in a 4th place finish and around 67 laps led. Montoya had actually raced some of his better races while he was sporting this sponsor.

Loveable
A brassiere company who sponsored Tammy Jo Kirk for 15 races in the truck series. It was one of the rare times that a female driver and a female product were matched up together. She managed to get a best finish of 11th throughout the series.

WCW/nWo
NFL's Adam Jones had a relationship with the wrestling federation and they decided to bring the name to NASCAR. Kyle Petty, in his nWo sponsored car, managed to grab a fourth place finish at Talladega in '97. WCW cars saw a win at the season opening race at Daytona as well. After these, the good finishes kind of tapered off.

Cartoon Network
Although a little out of place, the sponsorship did manage to inspire some younger kids to get a little more interested in the sport. They were actually apart of the same network as WCW so they shared cars from time to time. The company didn't see much luck in NASCAR though, and eventually the sponsorship was retired

Types of Sponsorships
Title Sponsor: A title sponsor will likely pay the highest amount for their partnership. They get the rights to have their names become a part of the racing series. For example, instead of the NASCAR cup series, it would be the NASCARSprintCup Series, or the Xfinity Series. It creates a ton of exposure for the sponsor, either through a broadcast on TV, or through social media.
Primary Sponsor: This is what a company would go for if they're looking to put their name on the side of a stock car. They can use the car for whatever type of advertising strategy they want, but it usually promotes their current and most recent products. If you manage to be a primary sponsor in a championship race, and that car takes home the championship trophy, rewards would be huge!
Associate Sponsor: You know all those smaller sponsor logos on the cars and the uniforms? Well, those are associate sponsors. They pay a much cheaper price to become involved, but in return, see a smaller placement of their brands on the cars and the racetracks.

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