Yellow Transportation is the primary sponsor for Johnny Sauter's No. 1 Busch Series ride. Credit: James Squire/Getty Images

Yellow uses NASCAR to increase visibility

James Welch knows a little bit about star power.

As CEO of Yellow Transportation, Welch himself is a star, presiding over a network of transportation services that circles the globe and crisscrosses the United States on a daily basis.

	Johnny Sauter Credit: Autostock
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Yet during the recent Transformation conference in Las Vegas, Welch was outshone by some of the heavy hitters he brought in to speak to 1,800 employees and customers at the Mandalay Bay.

The employees, 1,150 of them, were in town for planning meetings, which is an every-other-year occurrence at Yellow. Some 650 customers were on hand as well, and the combined mass listened to three keynote speakers: retired General John Handy, former Secretary of State Colin Powell (himself a former general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and NASCAR President Mike Helton.

That's a pretty star-studded lineup even in Vegas, where the city never sleeps and the stars never quit sparkling.

"I asked Mike to speak because Yellow Transportation is a big supporter of NASCAR and all that it does," Welch said. "He seemed to really be enthused about coming, and he spoke about NASCAR and the tie-ins they have with the competition side and their business. He gave a very effective speech."

Helton is no stranger to large crowds -- he's at the track every weekend, where crowds 10 times that size routinely show up for the weekend's event. Yet NASCAR's Jim Hunter told Welch it was the largest crowd anyone from NASCAR had ever addressed without a race or the NASCAR awards banquet happening at the same time.

"It was a great presentation, very well-received," Welch reported. "It got a great response."

Why is this important?

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Because Yellow Transportation, a global leader in the art of getting things to places on a schedule, is using NASCAR as a means to not only improve its visibility -- the company sponsors driver Johnny Sauter's Busch Series car with Haas CNC Racing -- but to improve and expand its business as well.

Helton is a major player in the world of NASCAR, and the fact that he agreed to be one of the keynote speakers at the Transformation conference lends serious weight to the notion that NASCAR benefits its sponsors and partners in more ways than just at the track.

Welch, in addition to using Helton's speech to fire up his employees, used the big fella's appearance to drive home to his customers that Yellow Transportation is major-league in both its core business and in the NASCAR arena.

"We're in NASCAR for three reasons," Welch said. "One, we have 350,000 customers around the world, and a lot of them like NASCAR. Second, Yellow Transportation has 25,000 employees, and events like this and the racing team build the esprit de corps that every corporation needs. Third, we want to build our brand.

"This conference was a powerful way to do that, and anything we can do that helps us build our brand is time and money well-spent."

While Yellow is looking to the east to build its brand -- and its company -- even more, especially in China and the rest of Asia, it is the potential for more events in Mexico and Canada that really has Welch intrigued.

"We are continuing to get a global supply chain effect in China and that part of the world," Welch said. "Both Mexico and Canada are absolutely fantastic for our business. The event down in Mexico City was a real success last year, and we're looking forward to heading down there again. We have customers from Canada that take a couple of buses down to Loudon every year, and a Canadian race would be good too."

One other important aspect of Yellow Transportation's NASCAR program is its driver, Johnny Sauter. The company left longtime partner James Finch at the end of last season and hooked up with Haas, taking Sauter along with them.

"The contract was up at Phoenix, and it was a wonderful partnership," Welch said. "We were fortunate enough to stay with Johnny, because we are very pleased with the job he does for us. Rather than retrain another driver, we lucked out that the seat at Haas came open when it did and we could move there with him."

As Yellow Transportation uses NASCAR to further its own business goals, it is reassuring to see NASCAR's president take the time to address a conference on its behalf. As he finished his speech, Welch presented Helton with a leather jacket emblazoned with the Yellow Transportation logo.

"He took off his suit coat and tried it on right then and there," Welch recalled. "He said that this would probably be the only time he ever got to wear it, because of his position, but he wore it anyway."

Just like any star would.