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Target Will Not Renew Sponsorship with Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing

Kyle Larson will have a new look to his No. 42 Chevrolet come 2018 with lead sponsor Target leaving Chip Ganassi Racing’s NASCAR program at the end of 2017, according to SportsBusiness Journal’s Adam Stern.

Target has been featured on a Chip Ganassi Racing car in the Cup Series since 2002 with Jimmy Spencer.

“It’s something that we worked on together, and it allows Target to continue to market their brand in a big way with Kyle Larson, our team and NASCAR — but allows us a little more flexibility to react to opportunities that were coming the team’s way,” Steve Lauletta, president of CGR, told SBJ. “Everybody should benefit from that.”

The retail giant did not renew its sponsorship with IndyCar Series driver Scott Dixon at the end of last year.

Larson is locked into the playoffs with two wins this year and currently sits second in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings. Target sponsored 33 of 36 races for the No. 42 team last year. This year, though, it began to back off its NASCAR program, with its logos being featured on Larson’s car for 14 of 20 races thus far.

CGR already has a sponsor that is new to the team and NASCAR, according to Stern’s report. Credit One Bank has upped its sponsorship with CGR this year, sponsoring Larson for five races and teammate Jamie McMurray in one.

Team owner Chip Ganassi recently said his driver lineup will remain the same in 2018.

About the author

Joseph started with Fronstretch in Aug. 2014 and worked his way up to become an editor in less than a year. A native of Whitestone, New York, Joseph writes for NASCAR Pole Position magazine as a weekly contributor, along with being a former intern at Newsday and the Times Beacon Record Newspapers, each on Long Island. With a focus on NASCAR, he runs our social media pages and writes the NASCAR Mailbox column, along with other features for the site.

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kb

Wow, that is a big blow. Target has been a major sponsor for a long time. Guess their stupid politically correct decisions (for the less than 1 percent of the population) are cutting into their bottom line. Many have protested Target and have not gone back. Smart decision Target (sarcasm)

rg72

Agreed. This decision speaks of the self-inflicted wounds of both NASCAR and Target.

DoninAjax

If Target can’t afford Ganassi what does that say about Mr. H’s sponsorship demands or Reverend Joe’s?

Ken

Maybe Ganassi will shut down (or sell off) both his Cup teams, release McMurray to pursue other options, and take Larson and put him into an Indy car. I say that as Ganassi never really seemed to have his heart in NASCAR, like he only went there to bail out Felix Sabatas (sp?)

Bill B

Very ironic that Target was a sponsor all these years when the 42 rarely was in contention for wins and now that they are finally in contention every week, they pull the sponsorship. I’m not sure whether this is the result of NASCAR’s numbers going down to the point where the sponsorship isn’t worth it, or Target suffering the same pressures as most brick and mortar retailers.

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