The National Rifle Association and NASCAR have forged a new partnership. NRA is the new title sponsor of one of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
The April 13 race in Texas, which is the first night race scheduled in this year’s Cup Series, is now known as the NRA 500, CBS reports.
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“It’s not about politics. It’s about sports marketing,” Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage said, CBS reports.
The partnership gives the NRA a one-year sponsorship deal with an option to renew.
It’s not the first time the NRA has sponsored a NASCAR race. But it is a timely boost for the NRA, which has taken political and public relations hits for months, stemming from December’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn.
“They saw it was obviously a very attractive sports marketing opportunity and seized it. That’s what it’s all about,” Mr. Gossage said, in the CBS report. “It’s about putting on one of the great sporting events in America. I know in Atlanta last year they saluted a lot of the people that make America free. They are going to salute American freedoms and American families with this race. That’s their plan, so it seemed to be a good fit.”
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Cheryl Chumley is a continuous news writer for The Washington Times. Previously, she was part of the start-up team for The Washington Times’ digital aggregation product, Times247. She’s also a 2008-2009 Robert Novak journalism fellow with The Phillips Foundation. She can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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