NASCAR TO REPRESENT MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING LICENSING BUSINESS

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Jan. 13, 2010) – NASCAR and Michael Waltrip Racing announced today a new partnership in which NASCAR will become the sole licensing representative for the race team. The agreement includes all driver marks within the Michael Waltrip Racing team, including David Reutimann, Martin Truex Jr., Michael Waltrip, as well as young future stars Trevor Bayne and Ryan Truex.

With this agreement, NASCAR’s licensing business, headquartered out of Charlotte, N.C. at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, will utilize its assets to grow the licensed product business and provide retailers with new and more comprehensive product options for the MWR team, including track merchandise opportunities, e-commerce channels and national retail outlets.

“The depth of NASCAR’s licensing group is only matched by its collective experience,” said Ty Norris, Vice President and General Manager of Michael Waltrip Racing. “The licensing and merchandising world is dramatically changing for teams and drivers, and this partnership has positioned MWR properly for the future. Our on-track success has led to off-track demand. This strategic move will increase the offerings and value to our fans.”
NASCAR will also provide retail development, new business, marketing, public relations and media assets in expanding the licensed product portfolio that includes apparel, collectibles, novelty, gifts, headwear and other non-traditional licensing concepts.

“NASCAR is very pleased to have the opportunity to work with Michael Waltrip Racing. We feel confident that we can leverage our resources to provide them with a comprehensive solution that addresses all of their licensing needs, including a complete merchandise and retail strategy, as well as additional exposure for their team and sponsors,” said Blake Davidson, managing director of licensed products for NASCAR. “There is a ton of opportunity with Michael Waltrip Racing in 2010, especially given Michael’s historic career and their strong driver pool of David, Martin, Trevor and Ryan.”

About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for one of North America’s premier sports. NASCAR is the No. 1 spectator sport – holding 17 of the top 20 highest attended sporting events in the U.S. and is the No. 2 rated regular season sport on television. NASCAR races are broadcast in more than 150 countries and 20 languages. NASCAR fans are the most brand loyal in all of sports, and as a result more Fortune 500 companies participate in NASCAR than any other sport.

NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series,) four regional series, and one local grassroots series, as well as two international series. Also, part of NASCAR is Grand-Am Road Racing, known for its competition on road courses with multiple classes of cars. NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races at 100 tracks in more than 30 U.S states, Canada and Mexico. Based in Daytona Beach (Fla.), NASCAR has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Charlotte (N.C.), Concord (N.C.), Bentonville (Ark.), Mexico City and Toronto.

About Michael Waltrip Racing From its 140,000-square-foot shop in Cornelius, N.C., Michael Waltrip Racing fields Toyota Camrys in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Waltrip, David Reutimann and Martin Truex Jr. as well as a NASCAR Nationwide entry for Trevor Bayne and a Camping World East Series entry for Ryan Truex. The team also maintains JTG-Daugherty’s No. 47 Toyota Camry driven by Marcos Ambrose. MWR began more than a decade ago as a modest family-owned NASCAR Nationwide Series team in Sherrills Ford, N.C. and has posted five NASCAR Nationwide victories. In 2007, MWR served as a flagship team for Toyota Racing Development, USA’s entry into both NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide competition. Reutimann earned MWR its first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in May 2009 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. MWR announced the formation of Diamond-Waltrip Racing with majority owners Gary and Blake Bechtel for the 2010 season. The NASCAR Nationwide team will help develop young drivers for MWR’s Cup effort.