- Busch Light to continue as official beer and title sponsor of Pole Award
- Partnership to include launch of summer music series this season
- Nascar enters 2025 Cup Series season with three premier partners
Nascar has renewed its long-running premier partnership with Anheuser-Busch but will enter the 2025 Cup Series season without a replacement for Geico, who departed at the end of last year.
The extension means Busch Light will continue as Nascar’s official beer sponsor, as well as the title sponsor of the Busch Light Pole Award. Busch Light lost the title sponsorship of the preseason Clash event to Cook Out at the start of this year.
“The partnership between Nascar and Busch Light is consistently noted as one of the most recognized in all of sports each and every year,” said Michelle Byron, Nascar executive vice president and chief partnership and licensing officer.
“Anheuser-Busch’s longstanding relationships at multiple levels across our sport have been paramount in cultivating new fans and driving fan loyalty for decades, and our partners at Busch Light are leading by example to find new ways to drive deeper fan engagement.”
The partnership will also see the launch of an annual Busch Light summer music series in 2025, which includes five pre-race performances throughout the season. The series will kick off at Texas Motor Speedway, with concerts once a month at Michigan International Speedway, Chicago Street Race, Iowa Speedway, and World Wide Technology Raceway.
“At Anheuser-Busch we strive to bring sports fans closer to the moments that matter year-round, and we’re thrilled to be continuing this relationship with Nascar, building continued momentum with Busch Light, now the #2 fastest-growing brand in the beer category,” said Kyle Norrington, chief commercial officer at Anheuser-Busch.
“Nascar and Busch Light fans are among the most devoted fans in the country and in 2025, together we’ll give our deserving fans more opportunities to connect to this sport than ever before.”
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Despite the renewal with Anheuser-Busch, Nascar has failed to replace insurance company Geico as a premier partner before the start of the season.
While Nascar’s move to a premier partner model means the blow of losing a sponsor is softened, the series will want to move back to a full complement of four partners before too long.
The series also secured a much-needed extension with fellow premier partner Xfinity earlier this month.
This is all taking place against the backdrop of the ongoing lawsuit between Nascar and two of its teams, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
At the end of last year, the two teams were granted a preliminary injunction that allowed them to compete as chartered teams in 2025. Nascar moved to get the motion dismissed last month but this request was denied.
Now, one hour before the start of Daytona 500 qualifying yesterday, Nascar submitted a 68-page appeal arguing against the decision to award the two teams with charters.
‘The district court’s injunction orders flout federal antitrust law; misapply the established rules governing the use of preliminary injunctions; ignore unrebutted, legally significant evidence; and have sweeping implications for Nascar’s 2025 Cup Series season,’ Nascar wrote.
‘These injunctions misuse the judicial power to force Nascar to treat its litigation adversaries as its business partners and confidants, undermining the mutual trust that has fueled Nascar’s growth and success.’
The timing of the appeal was coincidental as 12th February was a court-ordered deadline.
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