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Carl Edwards |
Roush Racing announced
today they have signed a multi-year agreement with Office Depot to
sponsor the #99 Roush Racing entry and driver Carl Edwards beginning
with the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season.
Office Depot will serve as primary sponsor on the No. 99 Office
Depot Ford Taurus for eight races - Daytona, Darlington, Chicago,
California, Atlanta, Homestead, Texas and Bristol - and as an
associate sponsor for the remaining races.
“Office Depot is very excited about taking its relationship with
NASCAR to the next level through our partnership with Roush Racing,”
said Chuck Rubin, Executive Vice President and Chief
Merchandising/Marketing Officer for Office Depot. “Joining the
NASCAR family and the championship Roush Racing team aligns our
business with an exciting sport, a winning race team, and a talented
young driver who will take care of business on the track.”
“Office Depot's decision to join Roush Racing in 2005 will give
NASCAR fans an opportunity to show their support for Carl Edwards
and Roush Racing's No. 99 Ford Taurus in their office supply choices
for their homes and offices,” said Jack Roush, team owner. “All of
Roush Racing is extremely excited about the future with Carl and
Office Depot in the years ahead.”
The #99 car has been without a primary sponsor since the end of the
2003 season. The team campaigned the car throughout the 2004 season
with a series of one-race sponsors, leading to the departure of
long-time Roush driver Jeff Burton, who signed with Richard
Childress Racing in August of last year.
Edwards moves up from Roush Racing’s Craftsman Truck Series
organization, where he posted three wins, nine top-five and 10
top-10 finishes while finishing fourth in the overall Craftsman
Series point standings during the 2004 season.
Edwards took over the driver’s seat of the #99 Ford Taurus following
Burton’s exit. Edwards made 13 starts in Nextel Cup during the 2004
season, notching one top-five and five top-ten finishes, scoring his
best finish – third – at Atlanta in October.
"Office Depot has definitely been taking care of business since we
started this venture,” Edwards said. “. I don't know how many late
nights I was at Office Depot getting printer cartridges and binders
and presentation materials and things like that to go pitch to
sponsors my racing and my team. So to be part of this and to be
involved with Office Depot and all of their 40,000 employees is
awesome.”
Edwards will be featured in an extensive national sponsorship
program introduced by Office Depot last week, centering on their
relationship with NASCAR for their new “Taking Care of Business”
marketing campaign.
“We filmed two commercials yesterday. They tell me they're going to
have life-size cardboard cutouts of myself in over 900 of their
stores,” Edwards said. “I don't think it could be a better fit and
I'm really looking forward to a great year, and I'm really looking
forward to seeing that commercial. I'm just really excited to be
here and it's going to be a good time.”
CARL EDWARDS - No. 99
Office Depot Taurus - "Office Depot has definitely been taking care of
business since we started this venture. We filmed two commercials
yesterday. They tell me they're going to have life-size cardboard cutouts of
myself in over 900 of their stores, including the one in Columbia,
Missouri. I told them they're going to have to send extras there because all
of my friends are going to go snatch that one up and probably run around town
taking pictures of it doing things it shouldn't be (laughter). I'm really
excited about this. Jack Roush has given me an amazing opportunity from
the beginning. I'll never forget the phone call to come here and race in
the Truck Series and to start racing in the Nextel Cup Series. For a
driver, in my position from the very beginning of my career, I've treated
my driving and my racing as a small business. I don't know how many late
nights I was at Office Depot getting printer cartridges and binders and
presentation materials and things like that to go pitch to sponsors my
racing and my team. So to be part of this and to be involved with Office
Depot and all of their 40,000 employees is awesome. I don't think it could
be a better fit and I'm really looking forward to a great year, and I'm
really looking forward to seeing that commercial. I'm just really excited
to be here and it's going to be a good time."
CHUCK RUBIN, Executive Vice President and Chief
Merchandising/Marketing Officer for Office Depot - WHY NASCAR? "Office
Depot has sponsored a number of localized sports marketing efforts over
the past couple of years. We also sponsored the Olympics this past year.
We were looking to move towards more of a national sponsorship, something
that was appealing to our customer base nationwide, not just on a
localized basis, and NASCAR fit that bill. We also wanted something that
had a customer profile that matched up with our customer profile and
Nextel fit that bill. Finally, when you look at the loyalty of the Nextel
customer base, that was something that was very attractive to us. So when
you put that all together, Nextel became a very natural choice for us.
When you looked at the Roush team, and Carl in particular, that was
another level of our commitment that we thought was very appropriate. We
were looking for a business partner that embodied our customer target -
somebody who started out as a small business and has grown it very
successfully and can understand what our customer base goes through. Our
customer base at Office Depot is that small to medium-sized business.
Jack's built a nice large business, but started out as a small business
and, over time, grew it. And someone with the caliber of Carl, with his
energy and enthusiasm and focus and a desire built on teamwork to win
really embodies what Office Depot is about. So all of these pieces
together added up to our decision to support this."
The author can be contacted
petem@autoracing1.com
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