Danica Patrick announces new primary sponsor, contract extension…
Health-conscious Danica Patrick has a new and fitting sponsor to replace GoDaddy on her No. 10 car next year: Nature’s Bakery, the maker of flavored fig bars.
In a Tuesday news conference, Stewart-Haas Racing pulled back a leaf-covered tarp to reveal a light blue Chevrolet SS for Patrick to race in 2016 and beyond, thus ending speculation the free-agent-to-be could land at another team.
SHR co-owner Tony Stewart and Nature’s Bakery founders Sam and Dave Marson were on hand to announce the 33-year-old driver would be in a car fueled by fig bars for 28 races next season as part of a “multi-year” deal.
“I feel like our brands align so perfectly, it’s kind of amazing,” said Patrick, who enjoys spending her free time with activities like hiking, yoga and CrossFit. “I think that journey is going to be really fun. I think there’s going to be lots of exciting things that we can do together in the future.
On top of that, being able to re-sign with Tony and here at Stewart‑Haas is very important to me. I really, really do feel like family here. I feel like there’s nowhere else I want to be.”
Patrick said she never spoke with any other race team or considered another offer, though her future seemed unclear after longtime sponsor GoDaddy announced it was leaving in April.
Nature’s Bakery is a bit of a surprise as a sponsor because it’s a relatively small company (400 employees) that has only existed since 2010. Its products can be found in all 50 states and 22 countries, but the fig bars are still not in many grocery stores.
For example: Only two stores within 10 miles of Kannapolis — both Walmarts — carry the bars, according to the store locator on the company’s website. So there’s much room to grow, which is where Nature’s Bakery hopes Patrick and NASCAR can help.
“We have a very strategic plan to grow the business substantially over the next five years,” co-founder Dave Marson told USA TODAY Sports.
The deal was initiated when Nature’s Bakery, which buys machine tools from SHR co-owner Gene Haas’ company, was put in touch with the race team by a Haas Automation sales representative. Marson and his son, Sam, are longtime race fans.
Dave Marson said the company had no plans to get involved in NASCAR — and certainly not to this extent — until the opportunity with Patrick presented itself through Haas Automation. But the deal to fund the race team stands on its own, he said
“We’re not as small as you think,” Marson said. “We’re a global brand. We produced over 600 million fig bars this year, so we’re big enough to handle it.”
The other eight races are likely to be filled by some of Patrick’s existing sponsors, such as Aspen Dental and TaxAct, though nothing has been signed yet, SHR executive vice president Brett Frood said.
It will be an adjustment for fans to see Nature’s Bakery on Patrick’s car instead of GoDaddy; the internet company has been associated with Patrick since 2007 and full-time on her race car since 2010. But four different paint schemes have already been approved to promote its various fig bar flavors, and the light blue won’t look like most other cars on the track.
“I think it’s going to stand out, which is important,” Patrick said. “More importantly, it’s going to look great against my skin tone.”
Patrick hasn’t reached the level of success many people expected when she joined SHR after leaving IndyCar. She has just six career top-10 finishes and is 21st in the standings this year — an improvement from 28th last season.
But Stewart said having Patrick on the team is more about just marketing. He called her the “most detail-oriented race car driver I’ve worked with” and said “she’s much better at it than I am.”
“To have her as one of the drivers at Stewart‑Haas Racing, we’re proud of her,” he said. “We’re proud of her progress. We’re proud of what she does behind the (wheel of the) race car.”
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