By every account, it seems like Joe Gibbs Racing has finally secured an ‘anchor sponsor’ for Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 team.
An anchor sponsor is the primary corporate partner that is on the car for a majority of the season and gets top billing in a variety of activations. It’s also the highest-priced sponsorship tier and is reserved for a very specific clientele.
Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal reported on Monday that Progressive Insurance was in negotiations with the team to take over the slot left open when FedEx departed the team at the end of last season.
Hamlin had enjoyed an anchor partnership with FedEx since his NASCAR Cup Series rookie season in 2006 and it was a relationship that existed with Gibbs since 2004. Hamlin has since been sponsored by a variety of entities over the course of the season from the AMPM convenient store chain, Yahoo!, King’s Hawaiian and National Debt Relief.
Hamlin teased the news on his Actions Detrimental podcast on Monday.
“Exciting stuff for sure that we’re going to be able to announce (in the evening) and well, I’m excited about it,” Hamlin said. “I don’t even know what I’m allowed to say. I’m surprised you guys had me even tease it today. Be on the look lookout, my social, and JGR’s social.
“I think you’re going to start seeing some consistency on our car, a lot this year now, coming up. Tune in. See what happens.”
