NASCAR has seen a steep decline in sponsors lately. Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin lost his two-decade-old sponsor FedEx, along with Mavis Tires. He still has other sponsors to pull him through 2025 – like Sports Clips, Yahoo!, or King’s Hawaiian. However, the same backup is not available for drivers who are not so well-known or well-established, like Christian Rose.

The Martinsburg, West Virginia native is an ARCA Menards Series star. In 2023 and 2024, Christian Rose clinched top-five finishes in the championship standings under AM Racing. Rose was going to move up to the Craftsman Truck Series in 2025, with all the plans set in motion. However, he lost his most crucial benefactor in this endeavor.

Sponsorship woes are plaguing the NASCAR Truck Series too

Like his peers, Christian Rose did not hail from a racing background. He was raised on his family’s farm, and Rose is a former Division 1 college baseball pitcher and kicked off his racing career only after graduating from college. He started in Late Models but gained real experience in ARCA on various racetracks throughout the country. Although his success in ARCA is undeniable, Rose has now fallen prey to NASCAR’s sponsor troubles. The sport relies majorly on sponsorship money to put drivers on the racetracks every week. So even after Niece Motorsports confirmed Rose as their No. 44 entry for the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, the team had to step back.

Barely four days before the Fresh From Florida 250 was going to be flagged off, Christian Rose lost his ride. Cody Efaw, General Manager of Niece Motorsports, released a statement. “Unfortunately, with the high costs associated with running a race team, we had to make this difficult business decision to keep everyone’s best interests in mind.” Bayley Currey will instead wheel the No. 44 Chevrolet Silverado as an interim driver. He will be backed by his partner Masked Owl Technologies.

It was not clear how long Christian Rose would be away from full-time competition. On the other hand, Bayley Currey is on the track to success. In 67 Truck Series starts, Currey has clinched three top-five and seven top-10 finishes. Moreover, last year he finished a respectable 13th in Daytona. While wishing Rose the best of luck, Efaw was also grateful to have Currey on board. “We would love to see Christian compete for us once funding is secured on his end, and greatly appreciate our existing partners at Masked Owl Technologies for stepping up their commitment to Bayley and our company as a whole.”

Christian Rose is not the only one to suffer sponsorship rollbacks. NASCAR itself seems to be in a state of slow decline.

Dwindling resources

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During the early 2000s, NASCAR used to bask in many sponsors’ sunlight. However, the Great Recession of 2008 to 2010 delivered a severe blow – the impact of which is continuing till today. Evidence of that is visible in a 2024 Global Data report. NASCAR generated $425.06 million in sponsor revenue in 2023, while until August 2024, it generated $362.34 million – this marked a 16% drop. Known for supplying fuel to NASCAR’s series, Sunoco has been a long-time partner. However, its investment has dropped from $26.25 Million in 2023 to $12 Million in 2024, and for 2025 it is a meager $2 Million.

These concerning trends prompted a reaction from Denny Hamlin. He said, “I mean, it is tough out there. Sponsorship is hard to come by, and certainly, while it is such an important time in our sport to recognize that sponsorship dollars are not flowing like they used to for sure.” Hamlin is also reeling under a faded sponsorship chart after FedEx left.

He observed how that has affected his team as a whole: “Everyone has had to adjust quite a bit, and there are certain aspects that JGR has to price into their pricing as well that is probably tough. I don’t know. It is part of it. Certainly, having one sponsor for 20 years, made things pretty easy and now it is all catching up. Is it concerning from my end? Maybe a little bit, but it is probably more concerning from JGR’s standpoint.” 

Hamlin’s status is very similar to what Kyle Busch went through at JGR in 2022. After losing his main sponsor, M&Ms, Busch waited for JGR to strike a new deal but nothing came through. Busch left JGR for Richard Childress Racing in 2023 and, when asked about his ending at JGR, he said, “Did JGR try hard enough to sell me? My answer to that is no.”

Christian Rose may have fallen prey to the bigger sponsorship decline trend. As the Craftsman Truck Series starts without him, let us see what plans the ARCA star makes next.