Tobacco Advertising - Sponsorship - NASCAR Auto Racing

NASCAR Auto Racing

The NASCAR Championship, now associated with SoftBank, was sponsored by R.J. Reynolds until 2003 when Reynolds announced they were unable to continue the sponsorship.

NASCAR's top series found sponsorship from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) in the early 1970s following the U.S. ban on television advertising of cigarettes. The "Winston Cup" became the top competitive series, and later, some other regional series under NASCAR were also sponsored by the tobacco company (for example, the "Winston West" series). In the mid-1970s, some races began to get partial television coverage, frequently on the ABC sports variety show, Wide World of Sports. While Winston was not able to do commercial advertisements, their name was all over television during races. Over the many years of their relationship with NASCAR, Winston sponsored several races and prize programs including the Winston 500, The Winston all-star race, the Winston Western 500 and the 1985–1997 Winston Million, which awarded a million dollars to a driver who could win a "small slam" of the sport's four Grand Slam events in the same year. From 1998 to 2002, the Winston No Bull 5, a more complex award system, was used. Each year, there were five races (initially the four majors and Indianapolis) selected to be a part of this promotion. Each driver who finished in the top 5 in the previous No Bull 5 race was eligible to win in the next race selected, along with a fan. If one of the eligible drivers won that race, they were awarded with a million dollar bonus.

In addition, R.J. Reynolds sponsored its own car for three years with Camel colors. It was driven by Jimmy Spencer.

On 5 February 2003, R. J. Reynolds informed NASCAR that their five-year extension to sponsor NASCAR's premier division signed in July 2002 could be dissolved because of economic concerns at the company, in what turned out to be one of two major sponsorship losses at the sanctioning body. Earlier in the year, ConocoPhillips, which made the 76 brand of fuel, announced it would withdraw from NASCAR at the end of the 2003 season.

On 19 June 2003, NASCAR announced at the NASDAQ MarketSite a new ten-year deal with Nextel Communications starting in the 2004 season, as the familiar red was replaced with Nextel yellow (Nextel's new colours were announced after the deal had been signed), and starting in September 2005, NASCAR began replacing Nextel logos with Sprint logos started appearing in reference to the new sponsor. The original ten-year deal was terminated after the 2011 season, after which Sprint signed a five-year extension into the 2016 season, of which during the first year of the deal a controlling stake in Sprint was acquired by Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank.

One major change NASCAR was able to market with Nextel was the series advertising banners. Whereas in the past, Winston signs could only state "Winston", "Winston Cup Series", or later "NASCAR Winston Cup Series", with some early era Victory Lane banners stating "The Taste of Victory", Nextel was able to use advertising to market itself better, which included "Speed Meets Speed", "The Car Phone Reborn", and "Finish Faster" positioned next to the Nextel Cup logo. When the advertising was rebranded with the Sprint banner, the Turn 11 bridge at Watkins Glen International was rebranded, with new Sprint advertising featuring the tagline "Sprint ahead".

Smaller tobacco companies not covered by the Master Settlement Agreement have attempted sponsorship for portions of the season or circuits. Bailey's, a small tobacco company based in Virginia, featured in 2005 sponsorship of selected races for the Bobby Hamilton Racing team based in Tennessee, and has been the longtime sponsor of the Bailey's 300 at Martinsville Speedway for late model race cars in the region which race at NASCAR-sanctioned tracks. Drivers in that race have advanced to NASCAR's three national series, with Denny Hamlin having participated in the race.

Under the Master Settlement Agreement, NASCAR was forced to implement a minimum age of 18 in 2002 for the three national series, as they were often paired with each other or other national motorsport series at race meets. Notably, Kyle Busch was ejected from a Truck Series race at Fontana in 2001 for being underage, as the CART race that weekend featured Marlboro, Kool, and Player's sponsorships.

In 2008, during a non-NASCAR sanctioned series where some NASCAR teams use for driver development, five drivers under the age of 18, most notably Trevor Bayne and Joey Coulter, both of whom eventually won in NASCAR's national series, were forced to sit out a USAR ProCup race (ProCup rules allowed obsolete Sprint Cup cars to be used, and the series used radial tires at the time, allowing drivers to develop) at The Milwaukee Mile because of tobacco regulations with the accompanying INDYCAR race.

In 2013, with tobacco all but out of North American motorsport, NASCAR will change the minimum age to 16 in the Truck Series for any circuit 1.1 miles or shorter, along with Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, similar to rules int the regional series.