Quicken Loans Enhances Ryan Newman Nascar Sponsorship

Quicken Loans has doubled its support for Ryan Newman’s No. 39 Chevrolet part of the Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team from nine to 18 races with Newman.

”We weren’t sure what to expect when we jumped into NASCAR, drugs but we knew we loved the fan based and quickly found how passionate and loyal to the brands they are,” said Jay Farner, the president and chief marketing officer for Quicken. ”We learned a lot, and we just felt it was a great partnership, so we’ve decided to double down.”

Tony Stewart, co-owner of SHR, said Quicken had doubled the return on its investment in Sprint Cup.

”That’s what is different with us from other race teams,” Stewart said. ”It’s not about a sponsor or partner writing a check, it’s about us trying to meet their needs and accomplish the goals they have.”

Quicken’s expansion of its investment should bring some sponsor stablity to Newman, whose car featured a patchwork quilt of eight rotating primary sponsors in 2012 (with the Army as the largest backer). Newman is ranked 15th in points with an April victory at Martinsville Speedway but missed the Chase for the second time in four seasons with SHR.

”It’s nice to have a direction of who your partners are going to be,” said Newman, who recently signed a one-year extension through next season with the team. ”It’s a big first step in the direction for me of a long-term contract.”

SHR still needs funding for Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet, which is losing Office Depot as a primary sponsor next year. The office supply retailer, which has been a co-primary backer of Stewart since 2009, was the primary sponsor of Stewart’s car for 22 races this season (with Mobil 1 paying for the other 14).

Stewart said the team is ”really close” on filling Newman’s remaining inventory in 2013 and has a couple of good leads for getting his car set before the end of the year.

”It’s definitely a huge step,” Stewart said of the Quicken deal. ”Hopefully, it will have a domino effect and get the rest of the inventory taken care of so we can get back to worrying about building fast cars.”