Posted on August 28th, 2007 at 11:11 pm by Editor
NASCAR’s negotiations with Subway to title sponsor its No. 2 series have hit the skids, sources say, and the sanctioning body has spent the past few weeks revisiting many of the brands that initially turned down the sponsorship. KFC, Dunkin’ Donuts and Allstate, each of which had been contenders for the sponsorship earlier in the process, are among the companies NASCAR has approached in the past several weeks as it tries to replace Anheuser-Busch. A-B sponsored the Busch Series for 25 years before deciding to make this its final season.
Subway, which was considered the frontrunner 30 to 60 days ago, remains in talks with NASCAR, but industry insiders no longer characterize Subway as the favorite. Sources say category exclusivity has been a primary obstacle as Subway and NASCAR try to resurrect their deal. Exclusivity has dominated the news this season with AT&T’s lawsuit against NASCAR and Cup series sponsor Sprint Nextel, which joined the lawsuit as a co-defendant, as well as an earlier turf war between Sunoco and Shell. Exclusivity emerged as a major sticking point in Subway’s negotiations because of the broad quick-service restaurant category. Arby’s, McDonald’s, Jimmy John’s and Domino’s are among the team sponsors already involved in the Busch Series.
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