The proof is in the numbers. Dale Earnhardt Inc. cannot afford not to come to terms with this...
St. Petersburg Times - Dale Earnhardt Jr. provided Anheuser-Busch with a NASCAR-best $183.1-million in "total value exposure" in 2006, beating series champion Jimmie Johnson and Lowe's by almost $40-million and nearly doubling the figures of Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.
That's a serious return considering a full-season Cup sponsorship generally costs between $15-million and $20-million. Vice president of research and development Eric Wright said Earnhardt and Budweiser have topped the list since he became a full-time Cup driver in 2000.
Quoting this...
Wright: "It's the Earnhardt Jr. Effect, I guess. He's popular and a good interview, which is important, and that gets overlooked sometimes. They don't have to be the most articulate, but if it's interesting, that's something the networks will gravitate toward and that's a huge boost to the sponsor."
