Across the breadth and depth of America, spring is slowly awakening.

That means two things: The NASCAR season is kicking into high gear, and race fans are taking the annual challenge of keeping their lawns looking mean and green.

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For United Industries, it means getting ahead of the curve with race fans and folks who like their lawns to look good year-round.

United is a subsidiary of Spectrum Brands Inc., a leading supplier of lawn and garden care products and household insect and pest controls.

Jennifer Nolan, senior marketing manager for United Industries, announced earlier this year a season-long partnership with Speedway Motorsports Inc. and the Performance Racing Network to "educate race fans about common lawn, weed and pest problems and the solutions they provide."

The last couple of seasons, United's Sta-Green brand has been a partial primary sponsor for the Hendrick Motorsports' Nationwide Series team.

The partnership focuses on United brands Sta-Green lawn and garden products; Spectracide weed and outdoor insect controls; Cutter insect repellents; and Hot Shot pest controls. Participating SMI facilities include Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.

"We felt like SMI tracks timed out very well because of the spring seasonality and we also have a micro season in the fall," Nolan said. "When we looked at it we felt like we were going to get a lot of assets in getting our brands into the hands of consumers and really just start to get our name out there and be pretty active.

"For us, it's all about being outdoors, getting to see the interactive experience and having a chance to get the national brand presence through a variety of different outlets like TV grabbing your billboard or national radio coverage through PRN. It's a nicer, bigger package."

Not only will United Industries brands be featured at these facilities, but its team of lawn care and pest management experts also will be consulting with track groundskeepers to provide solutions for the thousands of acres of land and gardens they manage.

Racing and lawn care don't, on the surface, seem to be compatible, but Nolan says otherwise.

"Originally, we got into it [NASCAR] because one of our major customers was in NASCAR, and then when we looked at it, we started to see that we could do a little more with it," she said. "Our brands are so diverse that sometimes people don't know what our logos mean when it's just Spectracide. We needed to figure out a way to get our brand in front of the consumer.

"We felt like race fans were great consumers for us because they met our target demographic?they're homeowners, like to do some of the work themselves, but they are like most people; you want it to look good but you don't want to spend a lot of time or energy. Most people are pretty value conscious and that's what our brands are all about."

Lowe's is the primary customer for United Industries, along with The Home Depot and the rest of the top 25 retail outlets in the country. The company got into it as a partial sponsor through Lowe's at Hendrick, and since has come to the conclusion that it's all about activation.

"Activation is the key," Nolan said. "It can't just be a logo going around in circles. You have to tell a story and have a memorable experience.

"We do feel like we got a lot out of the race car programs. We would activate programs with local reps and we really started to see market share come around. When we had a special paint scheme on the car, it really started to drive customers, and we saw significant spikes over the race weekend."

There's a robust sampling program under way as well, Nolan said, with a bounce-back coupon that applies to retailers.

"It's a good visual product," she said. "We get out into the campgrounds. It's all seasonally based on the tracks. In Vegas, there aren't a lot of lawns. They're killing weeds in their rock beds, so we have our weed and grass killer. In Atlanta, there's crabgrass, so we changed the product out. We want to have fun and have a good brand presence. We don't want to be the stodgy old 'lawn care, this is not fun and a lot of hard work.' We wanted to make it light. We have displays, and what we're working on right now is just being a fan.

"It's brand recognition, quick and easy."

Nolan summed up her company's involvement in NASCAR like this.

"Whether you're having fun camping out at a racetrack or cooking out in your backyard, you don't want to have to worry about annoying pests or less-than-perfect lawns," she said. "We offer a number of easy, cost-effective and efficient solutions for many household and backyard challenges, and we want to help race fans apply those at their homes so they can get more enjoyment from their everyday activities."