Earnhardt won't drive Bud car in '08

Benevolent One

Benevolent One

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Earnhardt won't drive Bud car in '08
ESPN.com news services

Now we know who won't have Budweiser as a primary sponsor in 2008.

Hendrick Motorsports announced Friday that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not bring the "King of Beers" with him when he drives for the team next season. Hendrick did not say who will be Earnhardt's primary sponsor instead of Budweiser, which Earnhardt has driven for since he first entered NASCAR nearly a decade ago.

"We have agreements in place with sponsors for the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, which prevent us from having a relationship with Budweiser," team owner Rick Hendrick said in a news release. "Honoring our commitments is important to us. The trade-off is missing an opportunity to bring Budweiser, a marquee brand synonymous with NASCAR and its fans, into the fold."

ESPN.com previously reported that PepsiCo Inc., possibly with the Mountain Dew brand or a combination of Pepsi products, is expected to sponsor Earnhardt next season at Hendrick, while Anheuser-Busch is negotiating with Evernham Motorsports to possibly move the Bud sponsorship to Kasey Kahne's No. 9 Dodge next season.

Budweiser did not immediately announce which driver it will sponsor, but indicated that it would remain an active NASCAR sponsor. Terry Labonte, Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott, Ken Schrader, Ricky Craven and Wally Dallenbach have previously driven Budweiser-sponsored cars.

"To climb into that red Budweiser car each weekend has always been a privilege," Earnhardt said in the release. "Although Budweiser and I will be unable to continue our partnership beyond this season, I remain committed to driving for Bud the rest of this year, and will continue to make it my beer of choice."
 
I am a little bit surprised by this move only because it has always seemed like Bud and Jr. and such a perfect fit. But, I'm sure this opens up a chance for a whole lot of new merchandise to be sold as well as a lot of other commercial exposure for Jr. and his new sponsor. It also opens up a whole new opportunity for Budweiser and it's new driver. Whether that is Kasey Kahne or not, whoever it is will benefit nicely from the advertising budget of the King of Beers.

In addition, I thought it was pretty funny that Jr. said he will continue to make Bud his beer of choice. ;)
 
I'm sure diecast sales will go through the roof, especially if the Pepsi/Mountain Dew sponsorship rumored comes to pass. Wal-Mart, here we come!!!!!!!!
 
Some teams can't get a sponsorship and HMS has more than they can handle, and big ones at that. Geez, what we wouldn't have given for a sponsorship like Mountain Dew back in the early 90's.
 
I hope its Mt. Dew, if so, i have a feeling thats going to be one helluva paint scheme :)
 
My guess was about a month ago Junior would be driving a Mountain Dew car. With ISC dropping Pepsi from its tracks, that's looking more like a possibility with a Pepsi logo popping up on Junior's car a few times a season.
 
MRM said:
My guess was about a month ago Junior would be driving a Mountain Dew car. With ISC dropping Pepsi from its tracks, that's looking more like a possibility with a Pepsi logo popping up on Junior's car a few times a season.
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gotta afford junior some way or another.
 
Not that Jr needs to remake his image, but a new team and a new sponsor is kind of like a completely fresh start. I bet he won't fight as hard for the number 8 now...
 
The Mountain Dew/Pepsi rumor makes even more sense now after reading Hendrick's comments ("We have agreements in place with sponsors for the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, which prevent us from having a relationship with Budweiser," team owner Rick Hendrick said in a news release.) and after seeing last week that Pepsi was no longer associated with ISC tracks.

My guess is Junior still wants #8 regardless of which sponsor is on the car.
 
I just can't picture Kasey saying, "Just because it says Bud ON the car doesn't mean there's Bud IN the car".
 
UPDATE: on Wednesday's NASCAR Now on ESPN, Terry Blount said another driver Bud is interested in is Kyle Busch. Also it was reported that the Bud/Hendrick Motorsports parting before the 2000 season [when they went from the #25 HMS Chevy to the #8 DEI Chevy was not a friendly split and it is doubtful they would team up again. Marty Smith also mentioned Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s possible deal with Pepsi could be in the $25-30million range. (7-11-2007) UPDATE: Evernham Motorsports owner Ray Evernham says reports that he is close to signing a deal with Budweiser for next season are unfounded. Published reports this week have linked Budweiser with Evernham driver #9-Kasey Kahne for the 2008 season, and while Evernham confirmed that conversations have taken place, he said there is no truth to rumors that he will announce the new deal next week. "We have talked to Budweiser, but they have also spoken to five or six other teams in the Nextel Cup garage," he said. (Motorsports Soapbox).
 
kat2220 said:
I just can't picture Kasey saying, "Just because it says Bud ON the car doesn't mean there's Bud IN the car".
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But think of the other possibilities. The 3hos could be in a bar knocking back some Buds when Kasey walks in. From there you have several humorous possibilites as to which one he leaves with. Or, their fighting to get his attention.
One favorite could the the 3hos on a pole. Taking off various articles of clothing and making goo-goo eyes at Kasey to get his attention. Yowzers, that's a seller right there... :D
 
So I guess this means that the Dale Jr. Budweiser football jersey, hockey jersey, and NHIS ticket stubs (photograph of Jr's Budweiser car on them) I have might be worth something someday.
 
Hang on to 'em. I still have plenty of Bud stuff with the name Elliott on them. Also, plenty of Coors stuff.
 
I can't see Kasey driving the Bud car either. Then all that Budweiser memoribillia with Jr's name on it. Man it's definitely the end of an era.
 
I hope that Kasey doesn't get Bud as a sponsor, i just can't see myself wearing a Bud #9 hat, just doesn't seem right. Be one thing if the beer tasted good , but it sucks and it gives me a headache after just one.:(
 
Mopardh9 said:
I hope that Kasey doesn't get Bud as a sponsor, i just can't see myself wearing a Bud #9 hat, just doesn't seem right. Be one thing if the beer tasted good , but it sucks and it gives me a headache after just one.:(
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WHAT! :eek: Being a fan of the Awesome one, didn't you have anything with Bud on it when he was driving the #11 car? I've got a red hat with the #11 on it signed by Bill. Lots of stuff from that time.
 
Mopardh9 said:
I hope that Kasey doesn't get Bud as a sponsor, i just can't see myself wearing a Bud #9 hat, just doesn't seem right. Be one thing if the beer tasted good , but it sucks and it gives me a headache after just one.:(
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NGC ran a good program on Moonshine and its lead into Nascar. This was followed by Ultimate Factories where Anheiser-Busch was the subject. They followed the product from the A-B fields to the plant in St. Louis. The packaging plant alone is 27 acres.
They account for half of all the beer sold in America. So somebody, besides me, is drinking it...I hope.
I didn't realize they had 40 different brands.
 
barelypure said:
NGC ran a good program on Moonshine and its lead into Nascar. This was followed by Ultimate Factories where Anheiser-Busch was the subject. They followed the product from the A-B fields to the plant in St. Louis. The packaging plant alone is 27 acres.
They account for half of all the beer sold in America. So somebody, besides me, is drinking it...I hope.
I didn't realize they had 40 different brands.
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Yep, I drink O'Douls which is one of their brands. :eek:
 
buckaroo said:
WHAT! :eek: Being a fan of the Awesome one, didn't you have anything with Bud on it when he was driving the #11 car? I've got a red hat with the #11 on it signed by Bill. Lots of stuff from that time.
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Nope had the Coors stuff, the Winston shirt that said Million Dollar Bill on it, but i never had any of the #11 stuff. Had Mickey Ds stuff too, i just can't wear something i don't like, i'm not a hypocrite. Like i said i will have a tough time with it if Kasey goes with Bud. Hopefully Bud will go elsewhere, because i won't buy anything with Bud on it.
 
It really doesn't bother me about Bud. I root for Junior, not the sponsor.

His new sponsors --- if I like the product(s), I'll buy it/them.

And, if you think about it, having a non-alcoholic sponsor opens up all sorts of new marketing strategies to the younger set.
 
Mopar, that's fine. I can't stand Bub myself, but for me, it's not the sponsor, but what is on the souvineer. It's sort of a design and part of the team. I guess that's what the sponsors really want anyway, but it doesn't make me want to purchase any of the products any more. I'm one of those people who think that if a sponsor wants me to do the advertising for them, i.e. walk around with their colors and logo on my body, then they ought to pay me for that. If nothing else, they should pay for the clothing. Very very few bits of clothing have I bought myself with any logo on it. With few exceptions, everything that I have like that has been given to me.
 
Mopardh9 said:
Nope had the Coors stuff, the Winston shirt that said Million Dollar Bill on it, but i never had any of the #11 stuff. Had Mickey Ds stuff too, i just can't wear something i don't like, i'm not a hypocrite. Like i said i will have a tough time with it if Kasey goes with Bud. Hopefully Bud will go elsewhere, because i won't buy anything with Bud on it.
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Casey don't look old enough to buy bud let alone advertise it. I don't see him with bud as a sponsor. If that what bud wants guess he will though.
 
tkj24 said:
Casey don't look old enough to buy bud let alone advertise it. I don't see him with bud as a sponsor. If that what bud wants guess he will though.
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Well he won't get much exposure if Evernham continues to field horrible cars. It amazes me how bad his cars have been on the 1.5 mile tracks this year. There was so much hope coming into this year that the Evernham cars would be the ones to beat, but it has just been the opposite. Sorry off topic, but anyway if he goes with Bud i will just wear my old stuff.
 
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