Anheuser-Busch Drops Sponsorship for Kenny
March 19, 2009 by Warren Hayashi
Filed under Racing
The tides of change reached the shores of motorsports this week as Anheuser-Busch announced that Budweiser will no longer serve as the official beer of the Anheuser-Busch series and that its thirty years of support for Kenny Bernstein Racing’s NHRA team has been put on the blocks. According to Anheuser-Busch this ends a historic association that over-takes STP’s 28 year sponsorship of NASCAR’s Richard “The King” Petty as the longest run between a racer and a sponsor.
Kasey hopes Budweiser will put their support behind him for the 2009 Sprint Series. The king still resides over his court
Anheuser-Busch hasn’t announced who they’re going to throw their sponsorship behind for 2009. They may go with Kasey Kahne, who they sponsored in 2008, after the departure of Dale Earnhardt Jr. for Hendricks Motorsports at the end of 2007. But they estimate they only received around 12 million in benefits due to this arrangement, less than fifty percent of the exposure value they received using Dale Earnhardt Jr., so they might be looking around for someone they figure is a little more high-profile to help them return a little more value for their dollar.
Budweiser put their money behind Kahne in 2008
Kasey Kahne is probably crossing his fingers and planning on Budweiser continuing their relationship, it’s hard to find sponsors in the current economic climate and I’m sure the last thing we wants to do is find a new sponsor for 2009. Budweiser on the other hand, is probably wishing Richard or Dale were still available, instead of being otherwise occupied.
