3M leaves Greg Biffle and will sponsor Jeff Gordon for 11 races in 2015

Jeff Gordon has a new sponsor and it comes at the expense of a competitor.

Hendrick Motorsports announced Tuesday that 3M would become a primary sponsor for Gordon's car in 11 races starting in 2015. It's a three-year deal. 3M currently sponsors Greg Biffle.

For the races in which 3M doesn't sponsor Gordon it will serve as an associate sponsor. Last week, Gordon's current primary sponsor, AARP's Drive to End Hunger, announced it was extending its contract with the No. 24 team.

On the surface, the two major sponsor moves for the future seems like incredibly good news. While both announcements aren't certainly bad news, they're not completely rosy. Drive to End Hunger will sponsor fewer races than it does currently and so will 3M. While NASCAR and teams have trumpeted the number of sponsors entering the sport, it's a move made out of necessity. With companies making smaller commitments in terms of space and number of races, more agreements are needed to fill space on hoods and quarterpanels.

Gordon will have 10+ race sponsorships from Drive to End Hunger, 3M and Axalta next year.

3M's departure also means that Biffle has a glaring sponsorship need in 2014 as no replacement has been announced, yet. Roush Fenway president Steve Newmark said on Twitter that the team would have some announcements in the future.

When Roush Fenway announced that Biffle had re-signed with the team it said that there was sponsorship opportunities available. With Carl Edwards' departure, Roush said that Fastenal, the company primarily sponsoring Edwards this year, would move over to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2015.

- - - - - - -

Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @NickBromberg