Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s lack of competitiveness from race to race is starting to have an impact on his sponsors.
According to Joyce Julius & Associates, Inc., which measures sponsor exposure during race broadcasts, Earnhardt has fallen to sixth overall in NASCAR through the first 10 races this year after leading all drivers over the same span in 2008.
The No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet has received 7 hours, 35 minutes and 44 seconds of air time this season through the Richmond race on May 2. That’s far below the 12:27:10 that Jeff Gordon has garnered to lead all drivers. Gordon has won one race and leads the points standings with six top-five finishes. Earnhardt, NASCAR's most popular driver and perhaps the most costly to sponsor, has not won and was 18th in the standings through 10 races with just one top-five finish. When he’s not competitive, he receives less air time than drivers battling for victories.
A year ago, Earnhardt was No. 1 with 12:00:45 of exposure for his sponsors through the first 10 races. He was third in the standings at that point.
Joyce Julius also measures the equivalent cost of buying that amount of air time during a race to come up with a value for that exposure. And that could be painful for sponsors, too.
Last year, when Earnhardt was No. 1 in exposure time through 10 races, the value of that air time was calculated to be $150.1 million. This year, the value of Earnhardt’s exposure for sponsors has dropped to $127 million. That’s still very high, second only to Gordon’s exposure value of $150.4 million so far.
But break down the numbers, and there’s a clear dropoff for Earnhardt’s sponsors as the year has unfolded. Earnhardt’s most rewarding race for sponsors was the Daytona 500, which generated 1:14:06 of exposure that Joyce Julius calculates would have equated to $64.4 million worth of advertising. In other words, he generated half of the value for his sponsors this season during the opening race alone, when ad rates are higher. And Earnhardt earned some of that exposure through his own miscues on pit road and the crash he triggered that took out the front of the field, angering drivers and some fans.
Ever since Daytona, where Earnhardt finished 27th, his performances have generated $62.6 million worth of value for his sponsors.
Comments
DUH! What do you expect for an average driver, who's been OVER-RATED and OVER-HYPED for years because of his name. RALPH Dale Earnhardt Jr. is simply an AVERAGE at best driver who is slowly and painfully being exposed as such, and isn't able to race up to the level of all the HYPE. If being OVER-RATED and OVER-HYPED were criminal, he'd be charged with FRAUD!
How very sweet for us Jr Nation fans that you took the time and energy to look that up. Are there any other Jr slings and arrows you intend to inflict us with today?
No big suprise! When you are not running well and are not winning you don't deserve being shown on TV. Heck the man could not even get a full time sponsor to go with him. Nat Guard would not sign with just Jr. Then, HMS promised them they could have a 4 time champ as well. That is the only way Nat Guard would sign. The man could can't even get his own sponsors, so a 4 time Champ had to share his sponsors.
Well, I like him anyway. He certainly doesn't have that same drive (excuse the pun) as his father, but I enjoy him all the same. With that said, if he were anyone else, he wouldn't be as popular.
I'm going to say the same thing to you JR haters that I say to all of the other Jr haters. How many NASCAR Sprint Cup races have you won in your lifetime. It's easy to critisize someone when your sitting on your ass staring at a computer screen. Until you have driven a racecar, your opinion is meaningless.
I find this to be falsely stated as usual, with these wanna be writers, Jeff Gordon never won squatlast year, what sponsors did he loose????? Get your stories more on the reality side, maybe more people would appreciate your poor talent.
da88lejr, the article never says that his performance is making him lose sponsors. I agree, the title is a bit misleading, but the article (and the title in honesty) says that it is costing sponsors, which is true. They pay the same amount of money each year, but they are getting less bang for the buck this year. In other words they are paying more per second of air time this year than they did last.
I read, a few months back, the Amp is thrilled with Jr. Amp was selling in the bottom of the energy drink market, and now it has soared and is making a lot of money for them. Marybeth
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