June 15th, 2011 
T.C. The recently announced Farmers-to-Hendrick deal for Kasey Kahne has spawned some discussion and speculation about the future of UPS’ NASCAR sponsorship. Apparently some felt that UPS was a candidate to adorn the hood of Kahne’s future ride at HMS, but the Farmers deal seems to signal that that now won’t happen. UPS’ current deal with Roush Fenway and David Ragan is up at the end of this season, and you can be sure they will be exploring all options.
The first time – and so far only time – we saw Kahne and UPS mentioned in the same sentence publicly was in a recent post from Scene Daily’s Bob Pockrass. Pockrass speculated about where UPS could end up, and mentioned Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer as possible candidates if they decide to leave Ragan’s #6 car. But as we saw back in 2008, drivers of that caliber may be out of reach for UPS.
It is believed that the current UPS deal with RFR pays somewhere around $17-$18 million per season, and the reason the shipper ended up with Ragan back in ’08 was because that wasn’t enough to lock down a big name like Edwards for a full season. Barring a major shift in strategy and budget from UPS, numbers in that neighborhood don’t appear to be enough this time around either. Sports Business Journal’s Tripp Mickle says Farmers is paying HMS $17.6 million a season for partial sponsorship of Kahne’s car, and that might be a big sign that UPS could again be priced out of the game for upper tier drivers.
Pockrass does mention that a partial deal with UPS and Edwards might be a way for Roush to keep Big Brown. For that to happen though, UPS would have to agree to share a driver with another sponsor(s), which is something we haven’t seen them do in the past. I’m not saying it can’t or won’t happen, but it would certainly be a departure from their past deals.
With Ragan much improved this season, UPS may just end up re-signing. But there is still so much up in the air for RFR, it may be some time before we know anything definitive. If 2008 was any indication though, expect UPS to be linked with everyone and their dog for the duration of the summer.
Posted in 
Tags: 
Ups bid 22 mill on Edwards , Aflac 27 mill then had to sell races. Ups is smart and want agree to pay more than they should. Aflac profits are way down with the economy and they prob learned not to bite off more than they can chew. I hear 18-22 mill is the going rate for a top tear driver this time around. Seems like Ups knows more about the value of a sponsorship( you want see Ups selling races).Btw Ups profit and stock are still soaring.
Whether he is the right spokesmodel for UPS, or not, IMHO David Ragan desrves to retain his RFR seat. DR was making strides at RFR prior to FORD went flat and then thru the FR9 transition period. Remember, it wasn’t until the last two races of 2010 that CE regained winning ways. DR came within a premature lane change of bagging the 2011 Super Bowl of NASCAR and sits solid in the points.
Being a bit more aggressive, coupled w/ some late race strategy and breaks will net the 6 car some wins.
TC-you tell me, you are in the garage area….do other teams see the 6 car as a threat?
I see UPS staying on the 6 but there will be a driver change. Trevor Bayne or Ricky Stenhouse will be in that car next year. David Ragan has improved, but he still hasn’t won a race in 4+ years in the 6. I think for UPS to stay they will want a change in the car unless Ragan does something quick.
A company like UPS is in the catbird seat. They have the money and some team needs UPS more than UPS needs a team. If they choose to do a partial sponsorship it would make more sense to buy races than try to sell races.
Well, Ragan may have sealed the deal. How bout UPS to Newman?UPS to AJ? UPS to Bowyer? Sounds like RFR is gona do there best to keep UPS on the 6 which tells me they think UPS does not have alot of value to them! Ups may just pull out of Sprint Cup and go to Nation Wide. more tv time than the 6 gets for 1/4 the price. Any thoughts?