U.S. Army drops sponsorship of Stewart-Haas NASCAR program

Stewart-Haas Racing today announced that 2012 will be the last season that is will be carrying the U.S. Army logos on its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car, as the Army has reallocated its marketing funds for 2013 and removed its sponsorship of the #39 Chevrolet driven by Ryan Newman.

The SHR team had featured the U.S. Army as part of its sponsorship lineup since October of 2009, although the Army had split time with Quicken Loans as the primary sponsor on the #39 car during this season. Newman currently sits 15th in the points with one win to his credit as he tries to qualify for the Chase for the Championship.

“The U.S. Army has worked with Stewart-Haas Racing in a mutually beneficial and highly successful relationship for the past four seasons, and they’ve performed superbly as our partner on and off the track,” said John Myers, Director, Marketing Support Element, Army Marketing and Research Group. "The same can be said of other members of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series family we have sponsored during the past 10 seasons. The sport, our drivers and the passionate NASCAR fans embraced the Army’s participation and created a tremendous opportunity for Americans to learn more about the profession of the Army Strong Soldier.”

It was not immediately known if the reallocation of U.S. Army marketing funds would affect the successful sponsorship of the Don Schumacher Racing NHRA Top Fuel dragster of Tony Schumacher. At the moment, the announcement covers only the NASCAR program and did not address any other racing programs.

“The U.S. Army has been a great partner of Stewart-Haas Racing since the team’s inception,” said Brett Frood, Executive Vice President, Stewart-Haas Racing. “It has been a mutually beneficial relationship, with the U.S. Army introducing training regimens that improved our pit crews. We remain very proud of our representation of the U.S. Army and its brave Soldiers who are 100 percent committed to our country.”