By David G. Firestone
Hello one and all, this week, I have three stories out of NASCAR this week. The first features the 2025 Clash. On August 17,the new venue for the 2025 Clash has been revealed, and I love this move! This is from NASCAR.com:
“Today, NASCAR announced The Clash will come to historic Bowman Gray Stadium for the first-time as the opening exhibition event for the 2025 season on Feb. 2. The announcement was made by Ben Kennedy as part of pre-race for tonight’s NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series event at the racetrack. This will mark the first NASCAR Cup Series event at the racetrack in 54 years. The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium will be broadcast live on FOX.
“Bowman Gray Stadium has a storied history in motorsports, so we look forward to bringing the Cup Series back to this revered racetrack for the first time since 1971,” said Kennedy, Executive Vice President and Chief Venue & Racing Innovation Officer, NASCAR. “As NASCAR’s first weekly racetrack, Bowman Gray Stadium holds a special place as the original home to grassroots racing. With a history of intense competition, we are proud to host The Clash at the ‘The Madhouse.”
If this leads to the Clash being held in smaller, historical racing venues that never get any real national coverage, then I’m all in! I love this idea! It’s the idea that SRX was founded on, and the Clash would do these venues wonders! I hope this idea works, and I hope its expanded on. No more football venues, more classic racing venues!
Now we move on to Jack Link’s. I like beef jerky, even though I don’t eat it all that much. I’m more of a meat-stick man myself. Jack Link’s has been a staple in the ever-expanding beef jerky market. On August 22, NASCAR made the following announcement:
“Today marks a moment worth savoring, as America’s No. 1 motorsport and the nation’s No. 1 meat snack brand join forces to help race fans feed their wild side. NASCAR and Jack Link’s together announced that the U.S. meat snacks market leader has become an Official Partner of NASCAR through a multi-year agreement set to begin in 2025.
As the Official Meat Snack of NASCAR, Jack Link’s will activate across multiple areas of the NASCAR ecosystem including at-track, social and digital media, and radio and television. Jack Link’s will also leverage the NASCAR relationship at retail, as the company continues offering consumers a wide amount of real, high-quality protein snack options that span multiple flavors, formats, sizes and sub-brands.”
First off, I had to cut a lot of marketing bullshit out of the quote I used. Second off, I like the idea of an official meat snack sponsor, will this drive away other meat snack sponsors? The Cup Series did away with entitlement sponsor exclusivity, but other series may still have it. NASCAR and its teams are in desperate need of sponsorship, and any move that jeopardizes them isn’t a good move.
This isn’t an idle threat. Sunoco bullied Shell into reducing the size of their logo on Kevin Harvick’s car after a Daytona 500 win. Sprint bullied both Verizon and AT&T out of car sponsorships. Is it really out of the realm of possibility that there may be the threat of Jack Link’s using their power to bully a sponsor, particularly a regional, low power meat snack company out of a car sponsorship? Possibly, there certainly a precedent for it.
This is my issue with “Official partners of X” across the board. Even if a team has a deal with a sponsor, sometimes this leads to issues. With NASCAR, and racing in general, this can, has, and will lead to teams and sponsors getting screwed. The incidents I talked about have been a drop in the bucket. Again, will Jack Link’s bully other meat stick sponsors? I hope not, but time will tell.
Now, for the final story, we go back to the Hooters VS Hendrick Motorsports saga. While Hendrick and Hooters had parted ways due to the struggling chain losing money, closing locations, and not paying Hendrick, the saga took a turn this week. On Thursday, August 22, lawsuits were filed, according to the Charlotte Business Journal:
“An entity affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports is suing Hooters of America LLC for $1.7 million, plus interest, for alleged unpaid sponsorship fees.
HMS Holdings LLC filed its complaint against Hooters on July 30, according to Mecklenburg County court records. The lawsuit was filed just weeks after Hendrick Motorsports dropped Hooters as a sponsor, citing the restaurant chain’s failure to meet its financial commitments. Hooters had sponsored Chase Elliott’s No. 9 car in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2017. Hendrick Motorsports is suing Hooters for breach of contract and unjust enrichment.
The complaint states that Hooters was obligated under the sponsorship deal to pay Hendrick Motorsports four installments annually totaling $1.75 million. The 2024 payments of $437,500 each were due on March 10, June 10, Aug. 10 and Oct. 10, court records state. The NASCAR team operator alleges Hooters made a partial, $45,000 payment in March before failing to make the June payment.”
Basically, Hooters signed a contract with Hendrick, refused to honor the terms of said contract, and is getting sued. Hendrick lived up to their ends of the contract, and Hooters didn’t. Hooters really doesn’t have a leg to stand on here. Hendrick will win, or at least take a nice settlement. Not a bold prediction, but just the truth.
This downfall of Hooters is glorious indeed. Hooters is a concept whose time has passed. Their wings are mediocre, the whole “sexy waitresses flirting with men while serving food” concept has been obsolete for a good long time. Other such companies have gone under, and it’s only a matter of time before Hooters goes under. Other chain restaurants that have better food than Hooters have gone under, so why should I feel bad for Hooters?
If you are the kind of person who actually likes to eat at Hooters, explain to me why? When it comes to wings, Buffalo Wild Wings blows Hooters out of the water. When it comes to their other offerings, Chili’s and TGI Fridays are better. Why would you eat at a place with mediocre food, when there are other places that have superior food? It boggles my mind that in 2024, with all the options we have, that an outdated, mediocre place like Hooters still exists. As I said, it’s only a matter of time until Hooters disappears, and I can’t wait.
With that, this week’s column is over, and I will work on something for next week.
Sources Cited:
Season-opening Clash exhibition heads to Bowman Gray Stadium in 2025
2025 Clash to be held at Bowman Gray Stadium
Jack Link’s partners to become official meat snack of NASCAR
Jack Link’s jumps into wild world of racing with new NASCAR partnership
Hendrick Motorsports ends sponsorship with Hooters UPDATE
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