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Navy puts brakes on NASCAR sponsorship

Navy officials have decided to pull the plug on their support for a NASCAR racing team after seven seasons and concentrate instead on other types of advertising products.

The decision on whether to go ahead with another year of the $6.5 million was due July 1.

“This won’t impact the remaining portion of this season,” said Capt. Jack Hanzlik, spokesman for the Navy’s chief of personnel in Arlington, Va. “It is also no reflection on JR Motorsports as we have been very pleased with our relationship and the team’s performance — we just think it’s time to head in a different strategic direction.”

The Navy has sponsored a car in NASCAR Nationwide Series since 2001. It is considered the sport’s second-tier racing series. The Navy first sponsored a car with the Fitz-Bradshaw Team and then, since 2006 switched with JR Motorsports, owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. when he went into business himself.

The news comes as the No. 88 Navy car is having its best year under driver Brad Keselowski, who is currently competing for the series championship and netted his first outright victory in June when he won Milwaukee. He’s now second in the series standings, trailing the leader, Clint Bowyer, by 202 points. Hanzlik said the decision wasn’t made lightly, but with budgets getting tighter, the service needs to step back and take a look at its whole marketing plan before deciding where it will put its advertising and marketing dollars in the future.

“We remain positive about our relationship and the rest of the season — the team’s winning and we’re very excited for JRM and Navy.” Hanzlik said.

The move comes as the service’s advertising contract with the Detroit-based Campbell-Ewald Company also comes up for bid this year, Hanzlik confirmed.

“This is not a decision based on performance, either,” he said. “Current law dictates that after certain time frames and certain amounts of work, the contract must be automatically re-bid in an open competition — we have been very happy with Campbell-Ewald’s work.”

The company, which has handled the Navy’s advertising business since 2000, is expected to work hard to land the Navy contract again as the Navy spent $170 million in 2007 with the firm to get the Navy’s brand out there with the “Accelerate your Life” campaign and other marketing deals.

Hanzlik also says the move does not impact the Navy’s other contract with Earnhardt, a separate $800,000 deal in which the driver made fleet and other appearances for the Navy and agreed to “sponsor” a recruit division at Great Lakes that will form up in August and go through training, with Earhnardt paying periodic visits to the recruits as they become sailors.

In addition to Earnhardt’s own fee, the Navy also paid $1.7 million in advertising placement costs to help get the word out.

Hanzlik says this more direct type of marketing deal could become the Navy’s model for the future marketing and advertising deals.

“In a straight sponsorship, it’s not always easy to measure the return on investment,” Hanzlik said. “In a targeted marketing plan such as this, it is much easier to clearly identify those metrics, which is what we are looking to do in this program.”

Navy officials announced the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Recruit Division on April 25, and Earnhardt and Keselowski even visited the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in May as part of the deal.

As of Thursday, the division has filled 63 of the 88 slots and officials expect it to be full by the time the recruits begin reporting to Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes, Ill., on Aug. 12.