The lack of sponsorship was touted as a big reason behind Stewart Haas Racing’s exit from NASCAR. With the departure of their star driver Kevin Harvick in 2023, they lost Busch Light Beer and Smithfield. This was a big hit for the team as the two companies covered the major costs in sponsorship money. And this is why the team had to hustle to find sponsors to run their race cars in 2024.

While Stewart Haas Racing is a renowned name, their on-track performance and dwindling sponsorship money in general made it tough for them to find partners. But they did seem to get hold of Texas A&M University in a deal that would see them feature twice in 2024. Chase Briscoe’s No. 14 car had the maroon Texas A&M wrap for the fall Las Vegas race. They also featured in the championship race on the No. 4 SHR car with Josh Berry at Phoenix Raceway.

However, Texas A&M University only shelled out $160,000 to be the primary sponsor for the two events. This came out of their endowment fund that’s worth $19.2 billion. Of course, there are sponsor obligations that the teams have to deliver, but going by the list of perks and demands, it certainly looked like SHR went overboard to secure partners for the races. A report by Sportico laid out the fine details of the agreement the two parties signed, along with the list of deliverables on SHR’s end.

Apart from featuring on the race car, the contract included a minimum of four Texas A&M-specific social media posts during the race weekends. This came along with the promise of tagging the school socials in all the race-related posts. The university also received access to 20 complimentary VIP full-access credentials, a race day tour followed by a meet and greet with the drivers, the report added.

These demands aren’t something that caught the attention of the race fans. But rather, the deal that was made by Texas A&M University. They certainly had deep pockets but were able to strike a bargain deal to be featured on a Cup Series team. Fans were baffled to see a premier team like Stewart Haas Racing settling for such a deal, and they took to social media to share their opinion on the same.

Did Stewart Haas Racing settle for less in their sponsorship deal with Texas A&M?

Although Busch Beer and Smithfield left the team for good, one of their key partners, Mahindra, stuck by the team. They continued to be the primary sponsor of the No. 14 car for 2024. However, with the details of the new discounted deal between the two parties, it makes you wonder if Mahindra also cut a deal that favored them. “I wonder how that impacted their existing sponsors. Now that this info is out there, does someone like Mahindra make a stink if they paid their “full” price or did they get a discount this year to stick around?”

According to a report by SBJ, the top-tier team bags sponsorship deals worth up to $10-20 million per year. And when the amount is spread across the entirety of the season, it ranges from $250,000 to half a million per race. So you see, the offer the SHR agreed on was far from the industry standard. And this was pointed out by a fan on Reddit: “Shows how cheap that sponsorship model went for SHR. An upper midpack xfinity team is charging 100k a race. So for a cup car for 2 races at that price is insane.”

Not long ago, Stewart Haas Racing was part of the Big 4 equation. Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Team Penske are the other three. However, since the turn of the new decade and the launch of the Next Gen car, SHR has become a shadow of its former self. While the top teams do get better sponsorships, this fan was quick to throw shade on the team and questioned their top-tier team status. “One of the top teams In NASCAR lol.”

SHR didn’t hang around with the announcement of shutting down for the end of the season. They dropped the news early in the season, in May. Now, this could’ve been the reason why Texas A&M got a bargain of a sponsorship deal. The reason cited for this early announcement was to allow the employees and drivers to look for a new home, but it certainly worked out for the two parties. “They were going out of business though, perhaps Texas A&M got a deal!” another fan shared via Reddit.

An insightful fan chimed in with his suggestion stating that Texas A&M should’ve invested in the lower series. Xfinity and Truck Series attract viewers who are young and are looking for future studies compared to the Cup Series. “That’s crazy! SHR was obviously giving a discount, but it makes sense for colleges to sponsor more Xfinity and Truck teams. Hopefully team marketing executives realize this.”

SHR certainly made the most of the situation that they were in to close out their NASCAR chapter. Even if that came at the cost of being low-balled by a sponsor to help them get out of a rough spot.