Bobby Ginn has no problem with a beer sponsorship and is hotly pursuing NASCAR's most coveted free agent. Ginn has room for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and has planned to expand to four teams since taking over majority ownership of the team known as MB2 Motorsports last season. The Florida-based land developer said several weeks ago he would pursue Earnhardt, and Ginn Racing has emerged as a viable option through on-track performance by Mark Martin and Ginn's desire to field a winner. Ginn said Saturday he's had "exploratory conversations" with Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, but has yet to speak to Earnhardt himself. He said he never would have taken it this far if he didn't think his organization was a perfect fit.
"If I had no ability to do it, I wouldn't have embarrassed myself or wasted his time," Ginn said. "I believe we can support it and I believe he wants to win and I want to win. You put two people together that are damned determined to get there, that's a combination that has generally led to successes. "I don't want to bring him here, if I had any opportunity to do it, and make him believe he can't win a championship." Jay Frye, general manager at Ginn, is a St. Louis native who once worked for Anheuser-Busch, the parent company for Budweiser. Ginn believes Frye's past relationship with A-B, and Ginn's entertainment ties to the resorts he owns and golf tournaments he hosts makes it a perfect fit. But he firmly believes Earnhardt is the most important part of the puzzle.
"You can build great cars and have great teams, but you've got to have that spark plug that is going to put you in the winning," Ginn said. "To go after a winner, even if we had no chance to get him, it's like asking a pretty girl for a date. You have nothing to lose, you might as well ask. But I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think I could support him."
KFC has emerged as one of the leading candidates to take over title sponsorship of the NASCAR Busch Series, sources say. The deal is expected to cost the new title sponsor an average of about $30 million a year, about three times what Busch has been spending. Anheuser-Busch said in December that it would end its sponsorship after a 25-year run. NASCAR is not following a timetable, other than the pursuit of a partner before the end of the 2007 season, NASCAR Spokesman Andrew Giangola said.
KFC is one of five restaurants owned by Yum! Brands of Louisville, Ky. It's uncertain if any of the other brands -- Taco Bell, Long John Silver's, A&W All-American Food and Pizza Hut -- might be included in the sponsorship. KFC's relationship with NASCAR goes back 20-plus years when it was a sponsor for Junior Johnson's teams. The restaurant chain has been in and out of the sport since the 1980s, picking up part-time Nextel Cup and Busch sponsorships along the way.
Most recently, in 2004, KFC sponsored Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Busch car as part of a deal that included Taco Bell and Long John Silver's. During that sponsorship, Earnhardt became the first person other than Colonel Sanders to have his image on a KFC bucket of chicken. KFC sold more than 9 million buckets during that promotion.
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