Future of 'Winston' Cup remains uncertain

By Mike Fish, CNNSI.com
April 25, 2001
8:44 PM EDT (0044 GMT)

If by some long-shot, R. J. Reynolds decides to withdraw its NASCAR sponsorship after the season, who'll fill the Winston Cup void?

You might expect several corporate giants -- like soft-drink producers, for starters -- to eagerly line up and hand over tens of millions, industry sources say.

It's also a fair bet NASCAR would ignore the big-money guys tied to edgier products, such as major beer companies Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing.

"Coke and Pepsi should be all over it," one marketing executive said. "Certainly, being user-friendly, Coke or Pepsi would have much longer legs, and a broader reach in this industry than RJR is allowed. It's got to be a company can invest in it and build both the brands -- its own and NASCAR."

On the urging of then-driver Junior Johnson, Reynolds' Winston brand became title sponsor of NASCAR's top series in 1971. Winston pumps upwards of $40 million a year in the sport, including $13 million for this season's points funds.

But as early as June, the country's second-largest tobacco manufacturer is expected to go public with its future sponsorship plans. And it would be stunning, of course, if the Winston Cup were to vanish in a cloud of smoke.

The only catch is the 1998 tobacco settlement, which limits the manufacturers to one brand sponsor after this year. That means Reynolds, which currently has three, needs to choose between NASCAR, NHRA Drag Racing Series and golf's $1.6 million Vantage Championship.

At present, company honchos anticipate turning the single-event golf tournament into the RJR Championship. The settlement agreement doesn't preclude using the company name in sponsorship, so the same could be done with either of the racing series -- most likely NHRA drag racing -- and thus the NASCAR Winston Cup Series would go unscathed.

RJR has been in discussions with each of the sanctioning bodies since 1999.

Everything points solidly toward the Winston brand staying attached to NASCAR, except that Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), a friend of the sport, recently told CNNSI.com that someone from NASCAR told him about a year ago that the relationship was likely to end.

"I said, 'With all this tobacco [regulation], Winston as a big sponsor, is that going to hurt?'" Kyl recalled. "They said, 'No, we've reached an understanding with them. The year they have to get out, they're going to get out and it's going to have a different name and we have plenty of other people lining up to be sponsors. So it's not going to be an issue with us.'

"I thought, 'Boy, that's a pretty strong sport that can take that kind of a hit.'"

That's news to RJR officials who claim a decision hasn't been reached, though it sounds like they're sticking with NASCAR.

"We don't want to jeopardize the success of either [NASCAR or NHRA] series by delaying our decision," said Denny Darnell of R. J. Reynolds' Sports Marketing Enterprises. "So there's a lot of thought going into it. But we have 30-plus years of equity in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and that would be hard to walk away from."