Nationwide Series

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports to be featured in Nationwide Insurance 2009 marketing campaign!

And, NASCAR Nationwide Series sponsor introduces ‘Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash’ and NASCAR Nationwide Series ESPN ‘Driver Pick ’Em’ game at media day

Charlotte, NC — Nationwide Insurance announced today at NASCAR Nationwide Series media day that NASCAR racing superstar, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his company JR Motorsports will be featured in a new marketing campaign that will begin in February.

The company also introduced other activities related to the sponsorship, including the Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash, which involves an increased winner’s purse at four NASCAR Nationwide Series races, and the NASCAR Nationwide Series ESPN ‘Driver Pick ’Em’ game presented by Nationwide Insurance, a weekly interactive competition for cash prizes that will be available on ESPN.com

Nationwide’s partnership with Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports, the company he owns that fields NASCAR Nationwide Series teams, will include TV and radio advertising. In the ads, Earnhardt Jr. talks about his family’s 30-year history with Nationwide. Earnhardt Jr, is a current Nationwide customer – as are many other members of his family. The campaign will also involve personal appearances with Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports driver, Brad Keselowski.

“My family has been with Nationwide for three generations,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “When they asked me to appear in the campaign I knew it was a good fit because I’ve always appreciated the relationship our family has had with our Nationwide agent. The service we have received as customers has been outstanding.”

Nationwide has created an interactive micro site, nationwide.com/dalejr, which will feature behind the scenes videos and photos from the recent ad shoot. The final ads will be available on this site in mid-February

The campaign is a departure from previous Nationwide ads featuring celebrities. Despite the obvious opportunity for a racing pun, the ad does not include the company’s famous Life Comes at You Fast line and is not intended to be humorous. It’s framed as a customer testimonial, and true story from a family with one of the richest traditions in NASCAR.

“When we considered our approach for 2009 the Earnhardt family’s long history with Nationwide presented us with a great opportunity to talk about how many of our customers stay with us for a lifetime,” said John Aman, associate vice president of sponsorships for Nationwide

“This is a serious time for Americans,” Aman said. “People are worried about the economy, their jobs, and their retirement plans – so we didn’t want to make a joke. We felt like this was an opportunity to tell an honest story about a real family who has been with Nationwide for generations because they appreciate the service and value Nationwide provided. This family just happens to include some of the greatest race car drivers ever.”

In years past, Nationwide has featured celebrities like Kevin Federline and Fabio during the Super Bowl.

“We’ve had success in building buzz with Super Bowl ads in the past,” Aman said. “At this point in time, we’re focused on developing a deeper relationship with NASCAR’s very loyal fan base as the official provider of auto, home and life insurance and through this new partnership with JR Motorsports.”

Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash
Nationwide also introduced the ‘Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash’ that will add $25,000 to the winner’s purse at the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series races at Nashville Superspeedway Kentucky Speedway,  Iowa Speedway and Memphis Motorsports Park. Drivers eligible for this competition include full-time NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers and series regulars who are not full-time drivers on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. If a driver who is not eligible wins one of the races, prize money will be rolled over to the next race in the competition. The program also includes a $50,000 season-end bonus to the eligible driver with the highest points total over the four races.

“We wanted to provide some additional support for drivers on our series,” said Aman. “We also hope that these bonuses encourage competition and contribute to more exciting racing for the fans.”

ESPN ‘Driver Pick ’Em’ presented by Nationwide Insurance
The Nationwide ‘Driver Pick’ Em’ contest is an interactive weekly contest on ESPN.com. Fans can log-in weekly to select the winners of 10 head-to-head match-ups for each NASCAR Nationwide Series races. The contest will include cash prizes for weekly and season-long winners.

ABOUT JR MOTORSPORTS:
JR Motorsports is the management company and racing operation for Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s most popular driver and winner of more than 40 NASCAR-sanctioned races. JR Motorsports competes in multiple racing divisions, including the NASCAR Nationwide Series. In 2008, JRM enjoyed a breakout season with four Nationwide Series victories between its two teams. The JR Motorsports facilities are based out of Mooresville, N.C., and include the JR Nation retail store, Dale Jr. Fan Experience, Hammerhead Entertainment, and DEJ Realty. For more information on JR Motorsports, visit www.dalejr.com.

About Nationwide:
Nationwide, based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the world.  Nationwide ranks #108 on the Fortune 500 list.  The company provides a full range of insurance and financial services, including auto insurance, motorcycle, boat, homeowners, life, farm, commercial insurance, administrative services, annuities, mortgages, mutual funds, pensions, long-term savings plans and health and productivity services. For more information, visit www.nationwide.com.

Thank you to Hope Patterson, Nationwide Corporate Communications, for this information.

The 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series may be over, but Nationwide has a couple of items that may be of interest to you.  A big thanks to Nancy Smeltzer at Nationwide Insurance for sharing the following.

Nationwide has exclusive footage of moments to remember from the 2008 season from Daytona to Homestead. The Year-End Video contains some great highlights from the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Also available is the NASCAR Nationwide Series Browser to bring the NASCAR racing experience to your desktop.  This custom theme is available for the Firefox browser. It is outfitted with a toolbar and bookmarks folder featuring NASCAR Nationwide Series links.

Enjoy!

Remember, just 60 days till Daytona!

Here are some more pictures provided by our wonderful friend Nancy Smeltzer at Nationwide Insurance. The photos are from Clint Bowyer’s visit to Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 18, 2008, to celebrate his 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nancy501s/sets/72157610623793008

Here’s a brief rundown of how his day transpired:

• First stop was at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital to visit many patients and their families.

• Then Clint headed over to the Nationwide Headquarters in downtown Columbus to meet Nationwide executives and associates. He talked to fans, answered their questions, signed autographs and posed for pictures during a reception in the lobby.

• The final pit stop was at the Nationwide Arena where he was the guest of honor at a National Hockey League game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Edmonton Oilers.

Enjoy.  And remember, only 73 days till Daytona!!!

The 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Champions were honored in Naples, Florida just prior to Thanksgiving. Here are some photos from the weekend event provided by our good friend Nancy Smeltzer at Nationwide Insurance (Credit to Getty Images).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nancy501s/sets/72157609989523792/

Carl Edwards may have won the Nationwide Series season finale at the Homestead Miami Speedway, but it was fifth-place finisher Clint Bowyer who took home the big prize, clinching the 2008 Nationwide Series Championship by 21 points.

Clint Bowyer:
Carl gave us a hell of a run for our money right there at the end, he did, you knew it was coming. He was going for it and then, when Carl Edwards goes for it he goes for it. Just really proud of you know, all the guys, they did an extremely good job. BB&T backed us, Camping World, everybody that’s involved with this, Snap-on and Richard for giving me the opportunity. It means so much to be able to come out and compete at this level and to be able to win a championship it’s really cool.

Four races ago, 2007 Nationwide Series champion Edwards was seemingly out of contention for this year—but three wins and a runner-up finish brought him just 21 points shy of a second-consecutive title.

Carl Edwards:
Definitely it’s frustrating to not win the championship, I mean that’s what we set out to do this season. But I believe that I understand the spots of where we lost it, things that I did that cost us some points, and I think over the last, I don’t know, 10 or 15 races, we have executed and performed at a really high level. If we can continue that going into next season, then it might almost be worth it, you know, to have learned what we learned this season even though it cost us a championship. But yeah so it is frustrating but trust me there’s no shame in trying your hardest and giving it all you’ve got and getting beat. You know you’ve just got to keep going.

Bowyer reflected on his humble beginnings as he savored his victory.

Bowyer:
It’s just incredible. I mean, it makes you think back to how it all started, you know working in a body shop in Kansas and trying to figure out what was the next move. You’re out of money, your parents gave up, you know, three retirements to get you to where you’re at and you know it was kind of the end of the road and out of nowhere my cell phone rings and it was Richard. You know it’s just unbelievable to think back how my career started with a race in Nashville and then winning my first race in the Nationwide Series at Nashville, and you know very proud to be able to do this for Richard. Kind of feels like giving back for taking a chance on me, and you know it finally paid off for him.

To hear an audio version of this interview and more about the race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, visit http://www.nationwide.com/about-us/bowyer-wins-title.jsp

This content was provided by:

Nancy Smeltzer
Nationwide Insurance
Communications Consultant

Clint Bowyer isn’t an electrifying driver. He doesn’t drive aggressively, rather he is more steady and calm on the track. His driving style and personality are quite similar to that of Jimmie Johnson. Now, he hasn’t quite mastered the art of winning in the NASCAR Sprint Cup the way Johnson has, but with a 56-point lead going into the Nationwide Series finale at the Ford 300 in Homestead, securing a championship would be a step in the right direction.

And Bowyer did just that. All he needed was to finish in the top eight to keep Carl Edwards from winning his second straight title. He did that easily, taking fifth to stay on top of the standings, right where he has been most of the year despite winning only one of 35 races.

Bowyer fell out of the top 10 several times in the first half of the race. He actually trailed Edwards in points several times, but his team used a two-tire pit stop during a caution just past the halfway point to get its driver into the top five, and he managed to stay there the rest of the race.

In the end, it came down to two different types of seasons that led to the crowning of the Champion.

Bowyer’s season was all about consistency. In fact, his season was right on par with Matt Kenseth’s 2003 NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship. That year Kenseth logged 25 top-10’s and 11 top-5’s, were as Bowyer this year logged 29 top-10’s and 14-top-5’s. However, each was only able to grab the check flag once during their victory campaign.

Edwards drove the #60 to another great Nationwide season. And in the last race of the year, he did everything he could, other than getting the five-point bonus for leading the most laps. Carl finished the year with seven victories, 22 top-10’s and 19 top-5’s. Unfortunately, it was his inconsistency that cost him back-to-back championships. He finished 20th or worse five times, and logged two DNF’s.

Congratulations Clint Bowyer!

56 Points. That is all that separates Carl Edwards from Clint Boywer, and a shot at a second straight NASCAR Nationwide Series title. Edwards led a race-high 78 laps and held off the one last test from Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin to grab the checker flag. With the dominating win Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway, Cousin Carl was able to trim 35 points from his deficit.

An accident early on had it looking as if Bowyer’s lead would be far less. But the #2 team didn’t seem distracted by the challenge they were facing. After dropping back all the way to 30th, they rallied and were able to fight back to land a solid 4th place finish.

Bowyer heads into next weekend’s season finale at Homestead Speedway needing to finish eight or better, regardless of what Edwards does, to claim the trophy.

Can he keep the hard charging #60 team in his rearview mirror?

Edwards has been on a tear of late in both Sprint and the Nationwide series. His worst finish in NW over the last eight races was a fifth place at the Camping World RV Service 300 at California on August 30th. And by driving to victory lane the last two races in the Cup series, Carl keeps alive his hopes of becoming the first driver to win both titles in the same season.

I know there are a lot of people who don’t like seeing the “big league” drivers competing in the “developmental” division, but next week’s final race has shaped up to be an exciting conclusion to this year’s Nationwide Series.