Big move for Richard, yes, because this will help that AOL is able to sign a proven winner who hasn't been having the equipment with Roush because he had driven a car sponsored previously by the Venezuelan government and its socialist leader Hugo Chávez.
Two of Burton's personal sponsors will just ride along and keep on trucking-- Nabisco Foods and Coca-Cola. Coke will have a week to replace all the "99" caps with "30" caps. We might even see a few combination Harvick and Burton promos together with the two sharing Coca-Cola and Nabisco as sponsors.
I think Roush damaged his copybook by attempting to choose sponsorship from hard liquor and not try others. The only firm even doing a one-race deal or two were Comcast and TNT. The other sponsors on the #99 were the usual associate sponsors on the team which simply increased its support for a few races -- Swedish industrial giant SKF (on the bottom of the hood and C-pillar) and Shell most notable. Also Time Warner's TNT supported the car at the Daytona 500. If you noticed Burton's Coca-Cola promotions were done with him in a Shell Racing uniform from the Busch Series. (Shell sponsored that car at Las Vegas.)
The irony was RCR once carried Diageo associate sponsorship of the #3 from 1997 until 2000. But at the time, Diageo also owned Burger King and it was the BK logo on the #3.
I can see a Chevrolet ad with one driver in a NetZero uniform and one in an AOL uniform, asking, "Which one is the better Burton?"
"I can see a Chevrolet ad with one driver in a NetZero uniform and one in an AOL uniform, asking, "Which one is the better Burton?""
That's very funny!! Hadn't thought of them being with competing online services.
Thanks for your informative note.