Sponsors have their own silly season

In the NASCAR world, silly season often refers to the game of musical chairs drivers play as they move from one team to another as they look ahead to the upcoming season. This season there seems to be a second version of silly season playing out as teams prepare for 2011—sponsor silly season.

Many times when teams take on a new sponsor, it’s because said sponsor is new to the sport, while another sponsor opts to leave the sport because a company is facing financial hardship and can no longer afford to be in NASCAR or simply chooses to spend its advertising dollars elsewhere.

In recent months, several teams have announced new sponsorship deals, but they’re not bringing new business entities to the sport and sponsors aren’t leaving NASCAR. Instead, sponsors are jumping from one team to another. Granted, sponsors moving from one team to another isn’t a new phenomenon in NASCAR, but it seems to be going on more and more at this point in time.

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