It’s now up to Richard Petty Motorsports to bring home the bacon after sponsor Smithfield Foods, the largest pork processor in the world, announced that it would increase its sponsorship and investment in the Sprint Cup/Nationwide Series franchise today in New York.
Smithfield and its family of meat brands will now serve as primary sponsors of the No. 43 Ford Fusion and driver Aric Almirola for 29 Sprint Cup races in each of the next three seasons. RPM has disclosed that Smithfield’s additional investment will lead to more testing and R&D for the team.
“This expanded partnership is evidence the [NASCAR] platform has worked and continues to work,” Petty said in a team release. “We have worked very hard the past two seasons to position our team as business and marketing leaders in the NASCAR landscape.
“Smithfield’s continued commitment with us for years to come will allow us to focus on winning on the track while still working with Smithfield Foods to expand their business.”
Also included in the deal is a contract extension for Almirola that’s concurrent with Smithfield’s new pact. Last year marked his second full season behind the wheel of the No. 43, and he collected six Top-10 finishes en route to an 18th place finish in the 2013 Sprint Cup championship.
In comments made during today’s press conference in New York, Almirola said that he now feels he has the opportunity to be “a lot more confident” in regards to his future in the sport.
“I’m not worried that if I make one mistake or whatever that they’re going to be looking to figure out the next guy that’s going to come in and do better,” he said.
“[Smithfield’s commitment] gives me a lot of confidence knowing that I have Richard Petty Motorsports behind me, and then obviously Smithfield Foods behind me and that they’re committed to me and they support me…It feels great to not have to be worrying in June or July where I’m going to get my next paycheck from.”
As for Smithfield CEO Larry Pope, whose company first started its partnership with RPM in 2012, he noted that his group has tried racing sponsorships before but didn’t achieve success. However, this time, they know what to do.
“We’ve been reluctant to put so much money – we’ve been racing three times before over the last 20 years without real success because we didn’t know how to activate it,” Pope said. “…With the marketing people we’ve added to our organization, they know how to do it. Some of which have racing experience with Anheuser-Busch, so they know how to activate this. They’re teaching us how to activate it.
“Aric is driving and Aric is a wonderful young man off the track interacting [with fans], and we’re learning how to use it. Without abusing him, we’re learning how to use it. It’s a process, and the more we do it, the more we like it.”
