RFK is ditching the sweet buns, sure, but it’s because of a bimbo conflict, and it all started with RFK’s desire to lie down with a major American food conglomerate. With Consent from NASCARnothing less.
Eh?
Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks.
So…
For the past three years, King’s Hawaiian Dinner Rolls has been a major sponsor of Roush Fenway Keselowski’s No. 6 NASCAR Ford. (RFK) Races — the car driven by team co-owner Brad Keselowski.
(Small aside: every time you see these buns in Kez’s car, you’re hungry because, frankly, a King’s Hawaiian might technically be a roll, but it’s better than 90% of desserts. Honestly, place a piece of asbestos-dusted liver between a king roll, and I’ll dive.)
GREAT AMERICAN READING: Our Daytona 500 history book is a keeper and, yes, a great Christmas gift
Major grocery chain Kroger, meanwhile, has been the biggest benefactor of JTG Daugherty Racing, which recently changed ownership and took on a new name: Hyak Motorsports.
Kroger, seeking greater visibility within NASCAR (i.e. wants its logo in the lead pack more often) left Hyak for RFK, starting with the upcoming 2025 season, where he will display his company name and logo, repeatedly, on all three. RFK cars.
RFK, Kroger and King’s: three is a crowd
The devil, this rascal, is always in the details. Let the Sports Business Journal experts describe the devil’s work…
“Kroger uses a vendor model in NASCAR in which it works with dozens of brands that sell products in its stores, to help pay for sponsorship and share advertising profits.”
Go to a Kroger booth in a NASCAR fan village, one of the gifts you give will likely be from something you find on the Kroger shelf. Maybe just something from Bimbo Bakeries USA.
You heard me, Bimbo Bakeries. OK, you’ve never heard of them, but you’ve definitely heard of Thomas, Sara Lee and Entenmann’s English Muffins. They are all part of the happy and rich Bimbo family.
In the world of business marketing, a king and a bimbo make a conflicted couple. Go figure. In this case, Kroger (and Bimbo, by extension) is the sponsorship whale relative to funding King’s Hawaiian for a partial season. Marketing 101 says you don’t play nice with direct competition.
So King’s is looking for a new NASCAR home.
And this is also excellent news for NASCAR.
It’s a good sign that NASCAR is not losing its king’s bread
Twenty years ago, sponsorships grew on trees and NASCAR was surrounded by trees. Marketing strategies evolve, as always, and over time, NASCAR teams began losing sponsors throughout the season and gathering funding with a patchwork of corporate sponsors spanning different parts of the season.
Some sponsors haven’t just reduced their involvement, but left altogether (where have you gone, Adolph Coors?). So the fact that King’s isn’t using this elimination as an opportunity to jump ship… that’s huge.
It will be even more important for the team to find a part-time financing partner, whose annual investment is estimated at seven figures, if there is such a thing. weak seven digits.
Perhaps King’s will land on a new vehicle in time for the official opening of the 2025 NASCAR regular season, which takes place Feb. 16 with the 67th running of the Daytona 500.
This article originally appeared in the Daytona Beach News-Journal: “RFK gains Bimbo, loses King in NASCAR deal”. Kind of a food fight with Kroger
