Lumber Liquidators has already cashed in as result of their sponsorship in the Craftsman Truck Series. Credit: AP

Lumber company gets in on the ground floor

Lumber Liquidators already has visited Victory Lane in NCTS

If you're a business wanting to get into NASCAR -- a sizable group these days -- then you might want to pay attention to Lumber Liquidators.

If you listen to talk radio at all, you know Lumber Liquidators is a huge advertiser specializing in quality hardwood flooring for all uses. Its primary product is Bellawood pre-finished flooring, which comes with a 50-year warranty, and the Internet is a big part of the sales effort.

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Not only can Lumber Liquidators hook you up with quality hardwood flooring, founder and CEO Tom Sullivan knows a thing or two about picking a winner.

Two days after signing on to sponsor the Germain Racing Toyota Tundra truck of Todd Bodine in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Lumber Liquidators found itself in Victory Lane at Atlanta.

Sullivan had been looking to make an impact in NASCAR and saw a unique opportunity with Germain Racing and owner Bob Germain, which had Bodine in an under-sponsored Truck for the season and signed Ted Musgrave when Ultra Motorsports folded after Musgrave won the series title last year.

Bodine won several races in 2005 and was one of the favorites to contend for the title, so Sullivan put his money where his mind was: on Germain Racing.

"NASCAR fans are right in our target demographic and Todd Bodine and Germain were a fit for us right from the start," said Sullivan. "You just can't beat visiting Victory Lane on your first try."

Not many sponsors can lay claim to that accomplishment these days, and Bodine gave LL its second victory just two races later, at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis.

Not content with resting on laurels, Sullivan teamed with Germain to promote the company's wares at Lowe's Motor Speedway on May 19.

Lumber Liquidators executed two promotions to leverage its new sponsorship in Charlotte. During the Truck race, Lumber Liquidators placed a promotional code on the spoiler of the truck that, when seen during the broadcast, could be used to get a discount on hardwood flooring at retail stores or online.

The result was the best sales weekend of the year for the company.

Despite the fact that the Truck Series raced on just one of the two weekends that typically make up the Memorial Day racing program at Lowe's, Lumber Liquidators was not finished.

The following week, during the Coca-Cola 600, Lumber Liquidators parked its mobile showroom at the 600 Festival in Charlotte, where visitors could enter to win free hardwood flooring for their home. More than 2,500 race fans visited the showroom and submitted hundreds of entries.

Lumber Liquidators has found a niche within the Craftsman Truck Series. The company, founded in 1993 by Sullivan near his home in Boston, is based on low overhead, no frills, no glitz. It offers a quality product at discounted prices, somewhat like the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series does every weekend on the track.

Bodine and Musgrave are certainly holding up their end of the bargain with Sullivan.

Through eight races, Bodine leads the points by 76 over Musgrave, with two victories, six top-five and six top-10 finishes. Musgrave has yet to win this season, but also has six top-five and six top-10 finishes.

Bodine is 111 points clear of third-place David Reutimann at this point in the season.

Lumber Liquidators, which moved from Boston to Virginia, has become the largest direct retailer of high-quality hardwood flooring in the United States, with more than 80 locations around the country.

As you might imagine, all this is music to Germain's ears.

"We have been thrilled to welcome Tom Sullivan and Lumber Liquidators to our Germain Racing family," he said. "We look forward to a long relationship and helping them to grow their business through exposure to the millions of loyal NASCAR fans who support Todd Bodine every week."