Lowe's Home Improvement leaving Hendrick Motorsports

[mikemodeler]

They briefly announced on the evening news here in Charlotte that Lowe's Home Improvement is leaving HMS and NASCAR at the end of the season after over 20 years in the sport. I am sure they will find another sponsor for Jimmy but his lackluster performance the last 40 races might have had something to do with them leaving. That said, they have to be happy with their association with HMS and JJ.

[martinfan5]

Nah,  the reason is Lowe's overall profits have been down like all other brick and  mortar stores, this was a cost cutting move, nothing, nothing less.

Lowe's has been in NASCAR for 23 years.

Target left both NASCAR and Indy Car at the end of 2017 because it needed to better spend that money elsewhere ,  the two major retail players left in NASCAR is Menards and Bass Pro Shops,  Menards stays because John Menard love's racing and is funding his sons NASCAR career,  same for BPS, John Morris loves racing and has close relationships with a lot within NASCAR.

 

Edited March 14, 2018 by martinfan5

[Psychographic]

Has Jimmie ever had another main sponsor in cup?

 

 

[Fat Brian]

This isn't the first time Lowe's has lowered it's presence in NASCAR. They used to have their name on the track in Charlotte but didn't renew the deal when it expired a few years back.

[Dave Van]

All part of the plan folks!!!  Jimmie will move on or retire end 2018.  The 48 will go back to HMS original #5 with a new very high profile driver, sponsor and maybe new auto manufacture. I've held license deals with HMS so don't write me off as the hillbilly I appear to be!!!

[martinfan5]

Jimmie is signed thru 2020, so there is that, but Lowe's leaving changes things, so there is that too.

Edited March 15, 2018 by martinfan5

[Dave Van]

1 hour ago, martinfan5 said:

Jimmie is signed thru 2020, so there is that, but Lowe's leaving changes things, so there is that too.

Kasey Kahne was signed through 2018....he drivin for HMS???

Like I said I've held contracts with HMS....I know how they are structured. 

Just IMHO

[martinfan5]

28 minutes ago, Dave Van said:

Kasey Kahne was signed through 2018....he drivin for HMS???

Like I said I've held contracts with HMS....I know how they are structured. 

Just IMHO

SO its clear you stopped reading my post, because I clearly said that "Lowe's leaving changes things", which includes but not limited to ,JJ leaving anytime between now and when is contract his up at the end of 2020.

Rick bought out Kasey's contract, he needed to get rid of that dead weight , KK does not have a 7 pack of championships ,  but yes, everyone knows contracts can be broke/changed/bought out. 

Edited March 15, 2018 by martinfan5

[highway]

3 hours ago, Dave Van said:

All part of the plan folks!!!  Jimmie will move on or retire end 2018.  The 48 will go back to HMS original #5 with a new very high profile driver, sponsor and maybe new auto manufacture. I've held license deals with HMS so don't write me off as the hillbilly I appear to be!!!

Oh, I'm sure after an almost life long involvement with Chevrolet, Hendrick would go to a different manufacturer!  Does City Chevrolet ring a bell??   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Hendrick

[martinfan5]

22 minutes ago, highway said:

Oh, I'm sure after an almost life long involvement with Chevrolet, Hendrick would go to a different manufacturer!  Does City Chevrolet ring a bell??   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Hendrick

I am leaning towards agreeing with you,  while Rick has the Hendrick Automotive Group that sells pretty much every make, I just dont see HMS leaving for Dodge if they do in fact return, or one of the other interested manufactures ,  but anything can happen.

 

Edited March 15, 2018 by martinfan5

[mikemodeler]

6 hours ago, martinfan5 said:

I am leaning towards agreeing with you,  while Rick has the Hendrick Automotive Group that sells pretty much every make, I just dont see HMS leaving for Dodge if they do in fact return, or one of the other interested manufactures ,  but anything can happen.

 

Right now, there are only 3 car manufacturers in NASCAR and Hendrick has 2 of them as dealerships. Considering the cost of being in NASCAR, I can't see Dodge returning any time soon so the only logical move would be to Toyota cars. Given the history HMS has with Chevrolet and the number of championships they have won, the fact that HMS gives GM their best chance at winning, I would tend to think that GM will do whatever they have to do to keep HMS in the GM racing stable.

Give the GM teams another month of racing the new Camaro and I think you will find they get it figured out and find the winner's circle.

While Jimmy tends to play down his 7 championships, you know he and Chad would love to win #8 together and cement their standing among the best driver/crew chief combos.

But hey, what do I know? I didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I will the next 5 nights!

 

[Dave Van]

7 hours ago, highway said:

Oh, I'm sure after an almost life long involvement with Chevrolet, Hendrick would go to a different manufacturer!  Does City Chevrolet ring a bell??   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Hendrick

Lived within 100 yards of the place....bought a new  '82 Z28 direct from Rick. So as I said....not just some hillbilly here.  Chevy makes Rick the least money right now. The unknown manufacture, seen in the HMS pits of late, will bring badly needed buckets of cash with them. While all this is my opinion....I worked in NASCAR for 15 years.....

[espo]

17 minutes ago, Dave Van said:

Lived within 100 yards of the place....bought a new  '82 Z28 direct from Rick. So as I said....not just some hillbilly here.  Chevy makes Rick the least money right now. The unknown manufacture, seen in the HMS pits of late, will bring badly needed buckets of cash with them. While all this is my opinion....I worked in NASCAR for 15 years.....

Lets start a rumor. Maybe another Asian Manufacture like Nissan or Subaru. Or we could look toward Europe for BMW or Audi how about Jaguar ?? I would like to see Dodge return but I think Fiat doesn't feel that it would make financial since. Still inquiring minds need to know.        

[peter31a]

Don't have to start rumours. It's already been rumoured that both Volkswagen and Mercedes have been checking things out around Nascar.

[Dave Van]

21 minutes ago, peter31a said:

Don't have to start rumours. It's already been rumoured that both Volkswagen and Mercedes have been checking things out around Nascar.

Now that someone else has said it.......both manufactures have been attending races over the past 18 months. NASCAR needs a bigger audience, USA fan base is down massively. How does a business expand when home base is shrinking??? How did the NFL do it??? Go to Europe. The buzz from a new manufacture is exactly what France wants.....he often says he copies the NFL in marketing. Now if you keep up with published comments from some high profile companies and individuals you can connect the dots.

[restoman]

The way things are going in Nascar as of late, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see JJ hang them up sooner rather than later. He's already in the books as one of the best ever, other than collecting #8, he's done it all. At 40+, his days are numbered.

Teams run on money and it'd be no surprise to see some other manufacturer throw big bucks to entice HMS to leave Chevrolet.

$.02

 

[Dave Van]

Bingo......

[Psychographic]

I find it hard to believe (but it's not impossible) that JJ would not try for #8. Granted they have been off lately, but he's had late starts in the past and came on strong at the end of the season. Add to that you only need one win to make the stupid chase and the rest is almost as much luck as it is car and skill and he becomes 8 time, then for sure he retires.

I'm sure Hendrick could get a new name for a fraction of Jimmies salary, plus if you want new talent, now is the time to get that driver behind the wheel as he/she can learn along with the other new drivers and not playing catch up. We all know it's all about the money in Nascar, not the racing.

[Bill J]

NASCAR has shot themselves in the foot for over a decade. Interest in the sport is down because of the changes they have devised to spice up the racing, all having the opposite effect. Johnson and his enterprising crew chief have hurt the sport with their trick, rear steering cars, and other cheats to keep them winning. NASCAR closed them down the past few years with tighter rules and they have no more tricks to pull out of their hat. So, they run like everyone else right now.

Lowe's leaving makes sense, it costs too much to sponsor a race team. We already see more cars without sponsors and there are less than a full field at the races these days. Money is getting harder to come by for all retailers. Menard can afford to by his son a race car to drive and a team to run it. Menard is worth over $17 billion dollars, way more than Penske.

NASCAR has become a home for rich kids with rich daddy's and not a sport of tough men working hard to get to race top equipment. These rich kids show up and walk right in. I am personally done with NASCAR, it was once the most fun to watch and now it is the least fun to watch.

[Jim N]

HMS had an internet media company do a documentary series on their operation in the 2016 season.  It covered all four teams as they prepared for the races and their time at the tracks from Daytona through Indianapolis.  The one thing that I came away with from that series was the absolute reverence HMS has for Jimmie Johnson.  It eclipsed that for Jeff Gordon.  Things change, but I do not see Jimmie Johnson going any where.  He will retire from racing at HMS.

HMS is also Chevrolet's number 1 team and no one else is close.  The present is Jimmie Johnson.  The future is Chase Elliot and William Byron.  Once Elliott wins his first race, he will win them in bunches for a long time.  Byron is an auto racing prodigy.  He will have a learning curve, but when he figures it out, he will win races in bunches for a long time as well.  Chevy will pay what it takes to keep HMS.

[Dave Van]

Childress racing has a MUCH longer relationship with Chevy.  (and maybe more famous with the #3?)  They are also the number one Chevy team at this time performing MUCH better than HMS. Think things never change??? If you had said 3 years ago Harvick would be thanking FORD in the winners circle for the third time in a row, you'd been laughed out of town. Change is the only constant.......

To wrap it up....follow the money.....

[martinfan5]

7 hours ago, peter31a said:

Don't have to start rumours. It's already been rumoured that both Volkswagen and Mercedes have been checking things out around Nascar.

Yeah long running rumor,  will be interesting to see what is going happen.

[martinfan5]

10 hours ago, mikemodeler said:

Right now, there are only 3 car manufacturers in NASCAR and Hendrick has 2 of them as dealerships. Considering the cost of being in NASCAR, I can't see Dodge returning any time soon so the only logical move would be to Toyota cars. Given the history HMS has with Chevrolet and the number of championships they have won, the fact that HMS gives GM their best chance at winning, I would tend to think that GM will do whatever they have to do to keep HMS in the GM racing stable.

Give the GM teams another month of racing the new Camaro and I think you will find they get it figured out and find the winner's circle.

While Jimmy tends to play down his 7 championships, you know he and Chad would love to win #8 together and cement their standing among the best driver/crew chief combos.

But hey, what do I know? I didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I will the next 5 nights!

 

FCA is a weird one right now, and there are so many rumors going on ,  some involving RCR,   I know that FCA wanted to return to NASCAR but the hold is up finding a team that can be their anchor team, one that can also do the engine program.    The one rumor is they will make a announcement this year for a 2019 return, another is they are waiting to see what Ford does for 2019, that would hold them up. 

 

[martinfan5]

7 hours ago, Psychographic said:

I find it hard to believe (but it's not impossible) that JJ would not try for #8. Granted they have been off lately, but he's had late starts in the past and came on strong at the end of the season. Add to that you only need one win to make the stupid chase and the rest is almost as much luck as it is car and skill and he becomes 8 time, then for sure he retires.

I'm sure Hendrick could get a new name for a fraction of Jimmies salary, plus if you want new talent, now is the time to get that driver behind the wheel as he/she can learn along with the other new drivers and not playing catch up. We all know it's all about the money in Nascar, not the racing.

I agree, they are going after #8 , its been stated that is their goal.

Edited March 15, 2018 by martinfan5

[tim boyd]

I have generally kept my thoughts on NASCAR in check because of my career with one of the major auto manufacturers.  Now retired, I can be a little more open.

Historically, NASCAR has multiple lines of consumer appeal, of which the top two were manufacturer preferences, and driver/race team preferences.  When the manufacturers more or less dropped out of NASCAR in the early 1970's, NASCAR moved to focus on just the drivers/race teams.  This was certainly understandable and a smart move at the time.

But like many things in our world, over time the pendulum swung too far in the other direction.  The brands that the drivers race are now treated as second or third hand news; for example media coverage does not even mention the makes of the winning cars, even in the last sentence of the last paragraph.  

Concurrently, the cars have evolved so far away from their production counterparts that any connection between the race and the showroom is not evident for most fans.  

To get NASCAR back on track, they need to (1) refocus with a dual emphasis on the race teams AND the Brands being raced, thus providing two distinct avenues of consumer appeal.  And (2) they need to change the cars back to something that is MUCH  closer to their production equivalents (I'm thinking the last time they had this racecar/production quotient right was with the 1983-1986 Thunderbirds).  

And for those of you who do not read the www.autoextremist.com website, the author Peter DeLorenzo is highly outspoken on the subject of NASCAR and what is needed to right the ship.  Not saying I agree with all his thoughts, but it is an interesting read to get a well-rounded view of the subject. 

TIM 

 

  

 

Edited March 16, 2018 by tim boyd