Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet. NASCAR and Budweiser. Things you know that go together.
Since 1998, Budweiser has been the official beer of NASCAR. Starting in 2008, Coors Light will become the official beer of NASCAR. To me that just doesn’t sound right.
The Coors Brewing Company deal with NASCAR allows them to use the NASCAR logo in advertising and promotions. It also calls for a name change for the Bud Pole, which goes to person who qualifies first at each race. Coors Light Pole doesn’t sound right at all.
Coors Light had been the sponsor of the #40 car driven by David Stremme and owned by Chip Gnassi. Coors Light decided to end that sponsorship costing Stremme his ride.
“The company has a proven track record as a strong brand marketer, and we’re looking forward to a mutually beneficial partnership that excites our fans and helps bring NASCAR to new levels of popularity,” Steve Phelps, NASCAR’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement.
It’s going to be hard to get all the NASCAR fans to switch beers. It’s bad enough they can’t root for the Bud #8 car anymore and now they have listen to people pitch Coors Light instead of Budweiser.
