NASCAR sponsors lead IRL

The newly released Joyce Julius sponsorship value numbers for NASCAR are pretty sobering. They dwarf those of the Indy Racing League.

Lowe’s, the primary sponsor for this year’s NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, garnered television exposure valued at $200 million. Johnson’s victorious season also earned Chevrolet $67.8 million in exposure.

By contrast, Target was tops in the IRL, with $16 million, and Motorola was second with $6.9 million.

During the 10 races comprising the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Johnson’s sponsors garnered a combined $201 million in TV exposure. The only NASCAR sponsorship group better were those on the car and uniform of the driver who finished second in the standings, Carl Edwards, who earned his sponsors $225 million in exposure during the Chase.

The top 10 IRL sponsors (in terms of TV exposure) combined don’t match the $510.2 million in value Johnson earned for his sponsors. For a complete listing of the IRL’s top 10 sponsors see Nov. 20 posting on this blog.

Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Joyce Julius & Associates is considered a sports and entertainment industry leader in measurement and evaluation of sponsorship and promotional programs. The values above are based on 30-second TV ad rates during the telecasts in which the sponsors’ logos were seen and/or names were mentioned.