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Sponsorship of the JR Motorsports Chevrolet driven by William Byron in the NASCAR XFINITY Series is now complete for the 2017 season, with the organization announcing Wednesday that Axalta Coating Systems will join the No. 9 team in a primary role for 15 races during each of the next two seasons.
Axalta joins Liberty University (17 races) and Cessna (one race) as a primary sponsor for the team this year. Its first race in a primary role will come March 18 at Phoenix.
"It’s really exciting to have Axalta come on board," Byron told NASCAR.com. "I think it’s something that really brightens our schedule up and brightens our year up. It’s going to be great to see the Axalta colors on the car.
"I know they’ve been in the sport, formerly as DuPont, for a quite a few years. I remember watching them … seeing them on the cars and as they transitioned to Axalta … on Jeff’s car (Gordon’s No. 24) and Dale’s car (Earnhardt’s No. 88) and I guess they’ve been with JRM for eight years now as an associate."
Axalta was a primary sponsor of four-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Gordon from mid-2013 through his final "official" race at the end of the 2015 season. The Hendrick Motorsports driver’s previous sponsor, DuPont Performance Coatings, was purchased by The Carlyle Group in ’13 and rebranded Axalta.
The sponsorship was shifted from Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet, now driven by Chase Elliott, to the No. 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr. last season. Earnhardt Jr. is a co-owner of JR Motorsports, along with his sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team owner Rick Hendrick.
Byron, 19, won seven races in his first full season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series last year. Signed by HMS in August and placed with the JRM organization for this season, he is one of five drivers competing for the XFINITY Series’ Sunoco Rookie of the Year award.
"The sponsorship part is a vital part of our sport so I definitely pay attention to it and try and stay connected with what we need to do to get sponsors and maintain those we have," Byron said. "I’ve always had the faith that they would get the other races worked out. When I first signed, luckily Liberty came on board … and now Axalta is coming on board (as well.)
"I’m looking forward to having a sponsor that’s been in the sport for a long time, that has that background of success; it’s good to be a part of that and understand what it’s like to have a sponsor that’s committed to the sport."
It is the first primary sponsorship role for Axalta in the XFINITY Series, and Earnhardt Miller said it "feels good" to lock in funding with the group.
JRM fields four full-time entries in the XFINITY Series, with Byron, Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Michael Annett. All four are now fully funded, with the exception of four open races remaining to be sold on the No. 1 Chevrolet driven by Sadler.
"We’ve come into numerous years with as few as 11 races sponsored in some cases," Earnhardt Miller said, "So I’m definitely glad to welcome Axalta on board in a primary role.
"With William, I think it’s awesome to have a partnership with Liberty, who he has had a relationship with even in the Late Model here. And Axalta is certainly a partner that we know and have various relationships with on the Hendrick Motorsports side, our Dirty Mo Radio and our content side here. Having somebody that you know and have worked with and is a partner of ours now in a bigger way is really cool, too."
Having the existing relationship with Hendrick, as well as involvement with JRM through various digital content avenues, didn’t make the sponsorship opportunity a slam dunk.
The sponsorship landscape can still be difficult, according to Earnhardt Miller.
"Every year the conversations get tougher in terms of what we can bring to the table and what this sport can provide for these sponsors," she said. "It’s different for every sponsor. Some people are very concerned with TV and eyeballs, some people are very concerned with attendance at the track and some don’t care about that at all, some just care what your social media numbers are and how many people you’re talking to.
"It’s all over the board so you really have to listen to the sponsor and figure out what they’re looking for and then figure out what we have that can match up to that.
"Axalta has a great group, an energized group of marketing folks that are ready to put their sponsorship in play on the activation side and the execution side," she said, "outside of just putting paint … and their logo on the car."
