Top Tier, a company that sells custom designed t-shirts, flags, sunglasses and other apparel and accessories (and according to their website apparently a grill and catering company in Arkansas) has announced that they will be terminating any current/future sponsorship deals in NASCAR, effective immediately.
Most recently, the company was the primary sponsor of Max Tullman’s No. 42 Toyota Supra for MBM Motorsports, last April at Talladega Superspeedway, a track well-known for it’s party culture and night-life. Since that race, the company has not been the primary sponsor on any vehicle in NASCAR’s top-three series.
The company announced their departure from the sport on Saturday evening, via a blog post on their website titled “TOP TIER LEAVING NASCAR“:
We have decided to withdraw from any future sponsorships in NASCAR. We see the sport dying off, and we hate to see that as we have grown up being NASCAR fans and have a lot of friends that are drivers in NASCAR. We will always continue to support our close friends in the sport but from a business standpoint we have decided to end the relationship with NASCAR. – Top Tier statement
A representative from Top Tier disclosed to TobyChristie.com that they did in fact have a sponsorship agreement in place for the 2020 NASCAR Season, but declined further comment when asked which driver and/or team that the company planned to sponsor this season.
In an additional statement to TobyChristie.com the company’s representative said, “We are leaving NASCAR because the viewership isn’t like it used to be. From a business standpoint, it doesn’t make sense for us to continue if we aren’t seeing any gain from the viewership on NASCAR. No, we aren’t doing it because they banned the [confederate] flag. No, we aren’t doing it because of the Bubba Wallace story. We are simply not continuing our relationship because we see NASCAR as a whole declining. I can remember going to races back in 2005 – 2010 and the stands would be packed full. The parties would be insane in the infield and it was an overall great time. The past three times we’ve sponsored [a car] in NASCAR, we’ve seen empty seats, the energy is just different. NASCAR needs to do some serious marketing and make a lot of changes if they are wanting new sponsorships to come on board. With [the] prices to sponsor different teams, [it] just isn’t worth it.”
Photos provided by Top Tier of Max Tullman’s No. 42 Top Tier Toyota Supra at Talladega Superspeedway:
