Stewart-Haas Racing has signed a six-figure value-in-kind deal with Nike to outfit the team starting next season, when SHR switches manufacturers from Chevy to Ford. SHR did not previously have a sole apparel manufacturer and instead had different brands worn by team members. However, because of the switch to Ford, SHR will have to get all new apparel since Chevy’s logo is on its current gear, and the team decided the time was right to go out and find one official partner. Nike will outfit the organization with various forms of apparel, and in return gets the exposure from the gear being worn publicly, plus signage on SHR’s pit practice facility and weight room. SHR VP/Sales & Marketing Mike Verlander indicated that because NASCAR is typically seen as a sport whose fans skew closer to outdoor apparel brands than athletic apparel brands, he did not think the pact was likely to grow into a larger consumer-facing deal. However, Verlander said that since the organization will now get for free something that it previously paid for, “to us it’s as good as a cash sponsorship.” Meanwhile, Verlander said that as part of the switchover from Chevy to Ford, SHR will also slightly tweak its logo. Verlander: “The line in our budget for apparel is astronomical because you have 300 employees and then the employees that are on the road are very hard on apparel, so you go through things as crazy as it sounds as shoes, pants, shirts, sweatshirts, etc., and when you’re looking at a sweatshirt for a guy, what’s the big deal? Well he’s an underneath (the-car) mechanic and when he’s burning holes in his sweatshirt all year, you’re going to go through a lot of sweatshirts. So when we looked at it, it was, ‘In addition (to) sponsorship, what are some of the things -- low hanging fruit --that we can go after (from a value in kind perspective) that’s as good as cash?’” Other teams with apparel arrangements include Penske with Puma across all of the series it participates in, and Hendrick with Under Armour.