US casino operator Boyd gaming has been a fixture in the NASCAR scene since 1997 when it first sponsored The Sam’s Town 300, Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race. While it’s still the same race, the name will be different after Boyd Gaming extended its sponsorship agreement to be the sole corporate sponsor for 20 years.
Thus, beginning in 2014, the Sam’s Town 300 will now be called the Boyd Gaming 300.
“With our recent extension, Boyd Gaming is looking forward to celebrating our 20th anniversary as the sole corporate sponsor of the Nationwide Series race since it began in 1997,” said Paul Chakmak, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Boyd Gaming. “The new name we’ve selected – the Boyd Gaming 300 – reflects what the race has become over the years, a marquee event for our customers across the country.”
Although the race doesn’t fall under NASCAR’s premier Sprint Cup Series, it’s still a shrewd opportunity for Boyd Gaming to promote itself in a sport that has a tremendous following, not just in Nevada, but in the entire US. The mainstream attention the name is going to receive should also bode well for Boyd Gaming’s core casino business, especially in the wake of its preparations to introduce online gambling in New Jersey and several other states. Any time you have your name out there in an event as big as a NASCAR Nationwide Series race is great for publicity, and it doesn’t get any better than being a title sponsor. Incidentally, Sam’s Town is also owned by Boyd Gaming, which means that while Boyd has been involved in the sponsorship of the series since 1997, it will be the first time it will have its own company name as the official race sponsor.
So if you’re a fan of NASCAR and you notice that the Sam’s Town 300 is now the Boyd Gaming 300, don’t be surprised the least bit. NASCAR Weekend 2014 has been tentatively scheduled to open its season on March 7, 2014 with the Boyd Gaming 300 scheduled for Saturday and will be followed by the Kobalt 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race a day later.
