Monster, Sunoco, Mobil 1 all potential NASCAR Cup Series sponsors for 2020 and beyond

The current NASCAR Cup Series sponsor could be sticking around after 2019, albeit in a slightly lesser role.

The new era of top level NASCAR Cup Series sponsorship won’t begin until 2020, but a picture of what it might look like is starting to come together, and it includes both current title sponsor Monster Energy and several other companies that are already pretty synonymous with stock car racing.

A new report by Adam Stern of SportsBusiness Journal suggests that Monster, Sunoco and Mobil 1 could all be in the top tier of the new sponsorship model expected to go into effect after Monster’s recently extended deal expires after the 2019 season. Stern’s article also reiterates something he tweeted earlier this week, with sources confirming that Coca-Cola is very much in the mix as well.

While NASCAR may not announce anything concrete on this front until 2019, there are a couple interesting nuggets to discuss already:

• NASCAR could still change its mind — Perhaps this is common sense, but if a company stepped up and blew NASCAR away with an offer, “the sanctioning body would be content with the status quo if a company offered it enough money and activation intent to be the sole top-tier partner.” However, one imagines this is a remote possibility considering the organization is so far down the road to making a huge change.
• NASCAR could actually make more money off a tiered system than its current model — The SBJ piece mentions a previously much quoted figure of $20 million as the amount that Monster Energy pays to have its name on the NASCAR Cup Series. With four to six companies potentially paying $10 million each in the top tier for 2020 and beyond, this could be a relatively rare recent case of NASCAR making out better than it is right now.

All three companies make a lot of sense as potential partners. Monster has always maintained it wanted to remain a presence in NASCAR and simply seemed unsure if it was getting the value it sought from sole title sponsorship. A reduced role for a reduced price feels right.

Sunoco has been the official fuel of NASCAR for nearly 15 years, a fact that is mentioned in every race broadcast, while Mobil 1 is also an official partner, appears on the hoods of Stewart-Haas Racing cars multiple times each season and does a lot to promote racing in general with The Grid. Without knowing how much each company spends in those roles, it’s hard to say exactly how big a step up it would be for them to jump to the top tier of what NASCAR is putting together, but the suspicion is it wouldn’t be a ton more for what could potentially be even more bang for the buck.

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In any case, reports like these give fans an idea of what kinds of companies might be more prominent when the 2020 season rolls around. We’re all probably going to have to get used to saying “the NASCAR Cup Series presented by … ” someone, so you can test out how some of these combinations sound in the meantime.