Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Friday, June 20, 2008
Fastenal-sponsored NASCAR drivers swing by Winona
Fastenal employees got a brush with life in the fast lane Thursday when 2007 Indianapolis 500 champ Dario Franchitti cruised into the Fastenal parking lot in Winona.
More than 300 Fastenal employees and their families lined up in the lot of the Winona-based company to meet the new Fastenal-sponsored NASCAR driver and fellow racers Bryan Clauson and Reed Sorenson.
The drivers signed autographs and took photographs with a blur of employees who checked out the No. 40 Fastenal Dodge Charger and enjoyed a sunny afternoon away from work.
“This is a thank-you to our employees, kind of a rallying of our troops,” said Michael George, a Fastenal motor sports marketing specialist. “Racing is unique in that it can bring together a CEO and a hard-working guy.”
 Braydon Johnson, 11, left, of Winona, checks out the Fastenal-sponsored NASCAR Dodge Charger with his brothers, Drew, 9, center, and Kolby, 6, during Race Day 2008 Thursday at Fastenal in Winona. Fastenal is the primary sponsor of the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates No. 40 Dodge for the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series season. (Photo by Melissa Carlo/Winona Daily News) |
This is the national nuts-and-bolts distributor’s first season as a primary sponsor of the Chip Ganassi Racing, with Felix Sabates team’s No. 40 Dodge Charger in the Nationwide (formerly Busch) Series, but Fastenal is no stranger to racing.
The company became associated with NASCAR in late 2005, when it signed on to become the official sponsor of Bobby Hamilton Racing’s No. 18 Dodge truck for the 2006 and 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series seasons.
Three races in, Hamilton announced he’d been diagnosed with cancer and would step down. Hamilton’s son, Bobby, Jr., stepped in and ended the season with a fourth-place showing at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Fastenal wanted to move up the NASCAR hierarchy to the Nationwide Series, and through its association with Dodge, the company entered into talks with the CGRFS team. In November 2007, the two organizations signed a multi-year deal making
Fastenal the primary sponsor of the CGRFS’s No. 40 Dodge.
Franchitti, an IndyCar Series champ from Scotland, has primary driving duties for 2008, with Sorenson, Scott Pruett, Kevin Hamlin and 19-year-old development driver Clauson slated to take the wheel for select races.
Sixteen races in, No. 40 has finished races between 41st in Talladega, Ala., and third in Mexico City.
Between autographs, Franchitti said Fastenal has been a great sponsor.
“They give us all these tools I don’t know how to use,” he joked.
Fastenal founder Bob Kierlin and his wife, Mary Burrichter, shook hands with the drivers and got autographs for their daughter.
NASCAR and Fastenal go hand in hand, Kierlin said.
“It’s a good way to promote Fastenal products,” he said. “One race we came in third, but we had lost the car’s back cover. It got us a lot of publicity because they showed it on TV flapping across the track, and it had Fastenal.com on it.”
Contact Amber Dulek at amber.dulek@lee.net or (507) 453-3513.
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