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Advertisers lined up to sponsor this...

Mediaweek.com - With the start of the Nascar season just two weeks away, advertisers appear to be ignoring last year's TV ratings declines and a barrage of published speculation that interest in the sport may be waning. Instead, they're lining up to run ad campaigns with the three Nascar TV rights-holders—Fox, TNT and ESPN/ABC.

Fox's telecast of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18 is just about sold out, with the network intentionally holding back a handful of units. Spots for the race, Fox sources say, have sold for as much as $500,000 per 30-second unit, with the average spot going for between $350,000 and $400,000. As for Fox’s entire 13-race telecast season, insiders say advertising is close to 80 percent sold.

ESPN—which will air seven Nextel Cup races beginning July 29, and will air the Busch Series throughout the season—is sold out for its first Busch race, the Daytona 300, on Feb. 17. And TNT is reporting that its sales of ad time on its six Nextel Cup races that begin on June 17 are pacing ahead of last year.

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The total value exposure of this...

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.

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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."

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NASCAR keeps time with this...

Swiss watch brand Tissot, the Official Timekeeper and Watch for NASCAR, will bring its sponsorship of NASCAR's Victory Lap to life on Wednesday, Nov. 29th, centered in New York City's Times Square by rewarding the top 10 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers each with a new T-Touch NASCAR Special Edition watch.

The newly launched T-Touch NASCAR Special Edition provides fans with a timepiece that boasts innovative and proprietary technology. In addition to time and date, the T-Touch offers six touch-screen (tactile) functions, including: compass, temperature, chronograph, alarm, altimeter and barometer (meteo).

Jimmie Johnson, the 2006 Nextel Cup Series champion, will also receive a limited edition Tissot Heritage 150th Anniversary watch. The presentation will be held at ESPN Zone as one of the highlights of the morning. Tens of thousands of fans are expected to attend the event in the heart of midtown Manhattan.

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