Bubba Wallace and No. 43 team get a major sponsor in a unique fashion
The consistent funding that Bubba Wallace and the No. 43 team needed has arrived in a very non-traditional way.
Richard Petty Motorsports announced Friday that the Steward Family Foundation would fund a marketing campaign for the Petty’s Victory Junction. The camp will appear on the hood of the car for 16 races throughout the rest of the 2019 season, including Sunday’s race at Pocono.
David Steward is the founder of World Wide Technology, a company that’s been sponsoring RPM since the middle of the 2018 season. Victory Junction, founded by the Petty family in 2004, gives kids with serious illnesses the chance to enjoy camp experiences.
"Investments in diversity are critical for the long-term viability and future competitiveness of WWT,” Steward said in an RPM statement. “The same applies to the sport of racing. As the only African American NASCAR driver in over 40 years, we have been honored to support Bubba Wallace. With the Victory Junction alliance, we will celebrate and enable kids with diverse challenges and perspectives to reach their fullest abilities. 'What you have done for the least of of them, you have done for me.' Given our family's long history with Variety the Children's Charity, BJC Health System and St. Jude's, it was an easy decision to get involved with Victory Junction. Diversity matters. That is why we support Bubba. That is why we support Victory Junction."
Wallace has 1 top-five finish in 53 races
The No. 43 team has scoured for sponsorship money ever since Smithfield and Aric Almirola left for Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of the 2017 season and the team aligned with Richard Petty Motorsports at Chevrolet.
Wallace replaced Almirola at RPM ahead of the 2018 season and had over a dozen sponsors last year. And those 12+ sponsors still didn’t cover all 36 races.
The sponsor carousel has continued in 2019 as Wallace’s car has had seven primary sponsors over the first 13 races of the season. WWT has been the team’s primary sponsor, sponsoring six of those 13 races.
The lack of consistent funding has shown in the team’s performance and, in an ideal world, the infusion of new cash will help improve that performance. After finishing second at the Daytona 500 in 2018, Wallace didn’t get a top five the rest of the season and was 28th in the points standings. He’s currently 29th in 2019.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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