Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Furniture Row Racing announced on Wednesday, February 17 that they have partnered with Auto-Owners Insurance.
The brand will be featured as the primary sponsor on Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 78 Toyota for three Sprint Cup Series races in 2016 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Martinsville Speedway.
“We are excited as we move forward into the 2016 season to welcome Auto Owners Insurance on-board,” FRR General Manager Joe Garone stated. “As our team grows and expands, we’re really looking forward to these partnerships and bringing success to these partners.”
The excitement is shared by Lee Janis, Auto-Owner Insurance’s Vice President, as the brand enters their 100th anniversary year. Janis feels it’s a good move for his company, based on fan-loyalty as seen through other commitments.
“We do a lot of advertising through sports, other sporting activities besides motor racing. Because of the connection that most fans have with teams, it makes it easier for us to connect with teams and fans,” he said. “People are passionate about sports in the United States, so it feels like a natural fit to do this. This is our third year getting our feet wet in the whole process, but we love it.”
Janis added that he feels he can relate to FRR’s way of their own thing in Colorado, versus having a shop in downtown North Carolina as many other teams do.
“Being situated up in Colorado as they are, they do things in a unique way, and that’s the way I think we’ve been around for these years as we’ve done things a unique, own way,” he said.
Furniture Row Racing enters this season to build on last year when they finished fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with a victory at Pocono Raceway. For the organization, it marks their second major sponsor announcement of the season, following suit with the announcement regarding Bass Pro Shops in January. Garone says that the new partnerships come as a result of the higher level of performance that the team is achieving.
“You know that Funiture Row has their own partner with Denver Mattress, but we feel that we could open the car up for partnerships now that we can be a good partner,” he added.
