Ask.com made the call this past December to throw nearly all of its marketing resources into NASCAR in the first half of 2009, making it one of the rare brands to invest during the heart of the recession. Up against search-engine titans Google, Yahoo and MSN, the company's leaders decided they had to be aggressive, harsh economic times or not.

Six months later, a new head of the company is facing a new decision: whether to stay in the sport.

Examining the early returns, and despite the late start and a short 65-day window to conceive an activation program that launched at Daytona in February, the decision to leap into NASCAR seems to have paid off for Ask. Nielsen Online data shows Ask's market share has grown from 1.9 percent to 2.2 percent from January to June, although Ask remains fifth in the category behind ever-dominant Google (63.2 percent), Yahoo (17.2), MSN (9.4) and AOL (3.9). Another Internet measurement company, comScore, has Ask fourth in the category.

"We've seen very strong results," Ask president Scott Garell said. "It shows the activation is working."

Ask also has seen double-digit growth among NASCAR fans in usage, according to a Brand Image Monitor study from January to March that was commissioned by the search engine. Ask's only marketing change this year has been its entry to NASCAR as a team, league and track sponsor, and a major ad buyer on FOX and NASCAR.COM.

Now halfway into the year, Oakland-based Ask is evaluating the rest of 2009 and 2010. Its deal to sponsor Bobby Labonte's No. 96 Ford at Hall of Fame Racing and its official status deal with NASCAR are for 2009 only. Most of Ask's sponsorship and activation spend of about $10 million, according to industry analysts, was against the first half of the year.

The deal with Hall of Fame Racing cost a little less than $4 million for the primary position in 18 races, sources said. While that's far cheaper than the $20 million or more many sponsors spend on the top-tier teams, Hall of Fame Racing offered a bargain as a bottom-rung team that has struggled to compete.

Even without the performance, Ask's broad activation across team, league, tracks, TV and the Web has made an impact. "We have every intention of being back next year," Garell said. (Continued)