Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, which has served as a primary sponsor for Richard Childress Racing and the team’s No. 8 entry in the NASCAR Cup Series since the 2020 season, will continue with the team as Kyle Busch slides behind the wheel in 2023.
RCR and Cheddars announced a multi-race multi-year agreement on Thursday morning. The chain of restaurants, which has a menu item (chicken tenders) named after the No. 8 RCR team, is ready to hit victory lane some more.
“We’ve loved partnering with RCR and the No. 8 race team since our debut into the sport three years ago, and we’re just getting started,” said John Felton, Senior Director of Marketing for Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen. “We’re excited to welcome Kyle Busch and Rowdy Nation to the Cheddar’s family, and we look forward to celebrating many wins to come.”
For RCR, the partnership with Cheddar’s is a perfect fit.
“Both Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen and Richard Childress Racing share a natural theme of scratch-made items, whether it be a casual, homestyle meal or components for high-performance race cars,” said Torrey Galida, president of Richard Childress Racing. “Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen has been particularly successful at leveraging their race team partnership to increase brand affinity and purchase consideration, and our entire team is looking forward to building on the already strong strategic content, marketing and communications programs we have partnered together on.”
According to the release from RCR, the deal with Cheddar’s will include an off-track element with several activations at restaurant locations across the country, including a continuation of their successful show car program.
Following the announcement of the return of Cheddar’s, RCR also dropped a new look to the No. 8 font that will be on the sides of the car this season, and the team also announced the return of several other key sponsorship partners for the upcoming year.
3CHI, Lenovo, Alsco Uniforms, and BETMGM will all join Cheddar’s in returning to the No. 8 team for the new season.
The next chapter starts now.
Get your merch at https://t.co/EAt7eQ9yxF pic.twitter.com/dvYf6GXmo1
— RCR (@RCRracing) December 8, 2022
“Our business relationships are paramount to our organization and we’re proud to confirm that our primary partners on the No. 8 team will be returning to RCR in 2023,” said Galida. “Their commitment to our organization is a testament to our team’s collaborative approach and the value it has delivered to so many great brands.”
The No. 8 team scored three wins in 2022 with Tyler Reddick piloting the car.
In July, Reddick announced a move to 23XI Racing for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, and when RCR announced that they had landed Kyle Busch in September they announced that Busch would move into the No. 8 entry, while Reddick would move to a third RCR entry to be numbered later.
As the season progressed, Reddick’s future team — 23XI — ran into a massive problem as Kurt Busch, the full-time driver of their No. 45 car, suffered a concussion that ended his season. In October, Busch announced that the concussion had officially forced him to retire from full-time competition.
With Busch not returning to full-time racing in 2023, the team expedited Reddick’s move by a year.
