Texas A&M University agreed to spend $160,000 to be the primary sponsor of Stewart-Haas cars at two NASCAR races, a marketing partnership that the school called “novel” during its original announcement.
The contract, a copy of which Sportico obtained via open records requests, was signed by both sides in early October. For a final cost of no more than $160,000, Stewart-Haas agreed to race twice with Texas A&M-branded liveries, plus a handful of other marketing, promotional and ticket deliverables.
Chase Briscoe raced his No. 14 car with a maroon Texas A&M wrap in Las Vegas on Oct. 20, and his teammate Josh Berry drove his No. 4 car with a maroon and camouflage wrap at this past weekend’s season-ending race in Phoenix. Both races were televised on NBC. Berry also wore a Texas A&M-branded firesuit.
Representatives for the school and the team, which is co-owned by Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, didn’t respond to email seeking comments about the final itemized invoice.
In addition to the marketing on the cars and drivers, Stewart-Haas agreed to provide the university with a handful of other benefits, according to the contract. They include a minimum of four “Texas A&M-specific” social media posts during race weekends, and a promise to tag the school’s socials in all race-related posts.
On Nov. 5, as an example, the team tweeted a photo of Berry’s car, saying the livery was “honoring our nation’s military and [Texas A&M’s] commitment to support veterans.” The school’s official announcement of the partnership also played up its military ties—it is currently educating nearly 1,300 student veterans and its president is a retired four-star general—and Berry mentioned the same in a promotional video that the school posted to YouTube. At the end of the video, in which he is wearing an A&M hat, he salutes “the fighting Texas Aggies.”
Texas A&M also received access to 20 complimentary “VIP full-access credentials” to each race, a race-day tour for university guests at each race and a race-day meet with each driver. Those meetings, the contract says, must be 10 minutes in length and include photo ops.
Texas A&M is not the first college to advertise via NASCAR cars—Penn State, Auburn, Maryland and Virginia Tech are among the many schools who have done similar. NASCAR also has its own marketing deals with schools, including one signed in 2022 with Alabama. Texas A&M’s institutional expenses in 2022-23 were $2.3 billion, according to Sportico‘s college finance database.
Briscoe finished 26th in his Texas A&M car on Oct. 20; Berry finished 24th in his version three weeks later.