Recently, NASCAR has seen a sharp drop in sponsors. Along with Mavis Tires, Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin lost FedEx, his two-decade-old sponsor. He still has sponsors like King’s Hawaiian, Yahoo!, and Sports Clips to help him get through 2025. However, drivers like Christian Rose who are not as well-known or established do not have access to the same backing. The ARCA Menards Series star was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Christian Rose secured top-five positions in the championship standings under AM Racing in 2023 and 2024. With everything planned, Rose was scheduled to advance to the Craftsman Truck Series in 2025. But in doing so, he lost his most important benefactor.
Additionally, the NASCAR Truck Series is experiencing sponsorship issues
Christian Rose, like his contemporaries, had no racing experience. Rose, a former Division 1 collegiate baseball pitcher who began racing only after graduating from college, grew up on his family’s farm. Although he began with Late Models, he acquired actual ARCA experience at several racetracks across the nation. Despite his evident success in ARCA, Rose has now succumbed to NASCAR’s sponsor issues. In order to get drivers into racetracks each week, the sport mostly depends on sponsorship revenue. Therefore, the team had to back off even after Niece Motorsports announced Rose as their No. 44 entry for the Daytona International Speedway season-opening event.
Christian Rose lost his ride just four days before the Fresh From Florida 250 was scheduled to be marked off. Niece Motorsports’ general manager, Cody Efaw, issued a statement. “Unfortunately, we had to make this tough business decision to keep everyone’s best interests in mind because of the high costs involved in running a race team.”Instead, Bayley Currey will serve as a temporary driver for the No. 44 Chevrolet Silverado. His partner, Masked Owl Technologies, will support him. The duration of Christian Rose’s absence from full-time competition was unclear. In contrast, Bayley Currey is headed toward success. Currey has secured three top-five and seven top-10 results in 67 Truck Series outings. Additionally, last year he completed a respectable 13th in Daytona.
Efaw wished Rose success, but she was also glad to have Currey on board. “We sincerely appreciate our current partners at Masked Owl Technologies for stepping up their commitment to Bayley and our company as a whole, and we would love to see Christian compete for us once funding is secured on his end.” Rollbacks in sponsorship are not unique to Christian Rose. The NASCAR itself appears to be slowly deteriorating. NASCAR used to enjoy the sunshine of numerous sponsors in the early 2000s. But the Great Recession of 2008–2010 dealt a serious blow, the effects of which are still being felt today. This is demonstrated in a 2024 Global Data report. In total, NASCAR made $425.06 million in sponsor revenue in 2023, while until August 2024, it generated $362.34 million – this marked a 16% drop.
Sunoco has been a longtime partner of NASCAR, well known for providing fuel to the series. Its investment, however, has decreased from $26.25 million in 2023 to $12 million in 2024, and just $2 million in 2025. Denny Hamlin responded to these alarming patterns. “I mean, it’s hard out there,” he remarked. Even though this is a crucial moment in our sport, it is difficult to find support, and it is undeniable that sponsorship funds are not flowing as they once did. Following FedEx’s departure, Hamlin is now struggling under a diminished sponsorship chart. He noted the overall impact on his team: “Everyone has had to shift quite a bit, and there are certain areas that JGR has to price into their pricing as well that is probably tough.
I’m not sure. It’s a component of it. Having a single sponsor for 20 years undoubtedly made things easier, and now everything is catching up. Do I have any concerns about it? Perhaps somewhat, although it is most likely more worrisome from JGR’s perspective. The situation with Hamlin is a much like what happened to Kyle Busch with JGR in 2022. Busch waited for JGR to sign a new contract after losing his primary sponsor, M&Ms, but nothing materialized. When questioned about why he departed JGR for Richard Childress Racing in 2023, Busch responded, “Did JGR try hard enough to sell me? To that, I would say no. It’s possible that Christian Rose was a victim of the larger trend of declining sponsorship.
As the Craftsman Truck Series starts without him, let us see what plans the ARCA star makes next.
