NOS joining energy drink craze with Barrett for '08

CONCORD, N.C. -- Mike Fine and Chris Lencheski are swimming with the sharks in a crowded pool of energy drink sponsors in NASCAR's top division, and that's just fine with them.

Fine, brand director for NOS Energy Drink, and Lencheski, owner of SKI Motorsports, are going to market in NASCAR with the idea that less is indeed more, and to prove that a smaller team can get as much bang for its buck as some of the mega-dollar sponsors in the same product category.

In 2008, SKI Motorsports and NOS Energy Drink will attempt to qualify for four of the biggest races of the Sprint Cup season, beginning with the 50th Daytona 500 in February and ending with the Sharpie 500 at Bristol in August. Stanton Barrett is the driver of the No. 50 (in honor of the Daytona 500's Golden Anniversary) Chevrolet sponsored by NOS Energy Drink.

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Stanton Barrett

Lencheski referred to the announcement as "the biggest announcement of the smallest team that's going to win the Daytona 500," and he certainly backed that statement up with others.

"We believe that there is a place in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing for smaller teams," Lencheski said. "The key is to build solid relationships with sponsors that are enthusiastic about the boundless opportunities available to them in NASCAR. From there, you must invest in the right people and equipment to put yourself in a position to compete with the best in the sport."

NOS itself embodies that spirit, even though it is now on the Coca-Cola Co. distribution system.

Fuze Beverage LLC got together with an old-line racing company in Bowling Green, Ky.-based Holley Performance Products to produce the NOS Energy Drink. NOS stands for Nitrous Oxide Systems, which any good street racer or gearhead knows is laughing gas. Injected into the carburetor or manifold via an injector nozzle, NO2 bumps horsepower in a big way.

Holley owns NOS, and Fuze liked the name after seeing what nitrous did for the cars in the movie The Fast and the Furious -- it provided the import tuner rods with a quick burst of energy -- which is perfect for an energy drink.

The brand has grown 181 percent in 2007 and is currently the seventh largest energy drink brand in C&G. Available in 16- and 22-ounce cans and 11-ounce re-sealable plastic bottles which resemble the automotive product's packaging, NOS Energy Drinks can be found nationally in convenience stores, grocery stores and speed shops.

"NOS, with its history in motorsports, is the authentic energy drink team sponsor, and we can't think of better, more authentic way to be involved in NASCAR than with a team and a driver with such tremendous upside," Fine said at the news conference. "We believe that this partnership is a great fit for brand NOS and the Fuze Beverage Company as a whole."

In addition to the Daytona and Sharpie 500s, the team will also attempt to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 and the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. Should the team muster the necessary speed to make the Daytona 500, it kicks off a promotion worthy of a golden anniversary.

Should Barrett and the NOS Chevrolet make the race, one lucky fan will feel like a champion, or at least get paid like one. If the team qualifies for the Daytona 500 in February, one fan will receive the original winner's portion of the purse for the first Daytona 500 in 1959. Lee Petty won the race and a hefty $19,050.

Why are energy drinks all of a sudden the new motor oil of NASCAR? It's the market.

"This is a young, edgy brand," Fine said. "Stanton is a movie star and stunt man, and the least dangerous thing he does every week is strap into a NASCAR stock car. With Holley's experience in the sport, we consider ourselves an endemic sponsor."

With a plethora of energy drinks involved -- starting with Red Bull and including Monster (Anheuser-Busch), SoBe and Amp (Pepsi) -- there is more of an effort being made to differentiate between brands, much like the Coke-Pepsi and Budweiser-Miller-Coors beverage wars of NASCAR's past.

Lencheski threw down a gauntlet of sorts at the news conference by referring to at least one of NOS' competitors as a "$40 million Friday racing program." Hey, this is high-energy marketing, right?

According to industry publications, there's stiff competition for market share among the energy drink brands, and NOS is a relative newcomer. Its alliance with Coca-Cola is helping overall, but there are still mountains to climb for NOS, both in market and on the track.

"In a day where teams like Richard Childress Racing have 300-plus employees, we know 300 people," Lencheski cracked.

As innovative programs go, this one is pretty solid. Should Barrett qualify at Daytona, NOS and SKI Motorsports have already won.

"I'll gladly cut that check [to the lucky fan] when Stanton makes the Daytona 500," Fine said.