Subway makes No. 20 a combo deal for Stewart

This weekend, Tony Stewart will be driving the familiar No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing at Phoenix International Raceway in the Subway Fresh Fit 500.

How is that different from any other weekend? Well, you might want to check out the paint scheme he'll be wheeling, for starters.

Subway Restaurants on Thursday announced a three-race primary sponsorship program with Stewart and JGR, and it kicks off with Stewart sporting yellow Subway colors instead of Home Depot's usual orange and white.

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Phoenix is the first of the three races, followed by Auto Club Speedway on Aug. 31 and the fall race at Talladega in October. In addition, Subway has a multi-year associate sponsorship on the car. Stewart already had a personal services contract with Subway, which has been extended, and he will continue to be featured in advertising for the company.

"We're very thankful that the good folks at Home Depot are allowing us to have a little space on the car," said Tony Pace, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Subway's Franchisee Marketing Fund, which creates the marketing and advertising programs for the 25,000-store chain.

"Tony is a Subway consumer, which is how we started our relationship in the first place, and he's obviously a fabulous driver. There are many, many NASCAR fans who are big fans of Subway as well, so this was a way of expanding our relationship in the sport that made sense for everybody."

Rumors began circulating early last season that, given the financial climate and the increasing costs of NASCAR sponsorship at the top level, JGR and Home Depot were looking for an associate to buy some races, and Subway was rumored as the top contender from the get-go.

Pace said, tongue in cheek, that the deal came together through "divine intervention."

"We just made it known to Home Depot that if they were ever in a position to consider somebody else for primary paint schemes, we'd be interested in doing that," he said. "We've been using Tony in ads since the beginning of last year, and my guess is it certainly doesn't hurt when we have Tony wearing Home Depot stuff in a Subway ad."

Pace said the relationship with the two-time NASCAR champion was the clincher for the deal.

"It works for us because of the pre-existing relationship with Tony," Pace said. "I'm not sure, if I was another brand that didn't have a relationship with the driver, to go in and do a couple of paints makes as much sense. But this is a natural extension of what we're doing with Tony and we're very appreciative of the folks at Home Depot allowing us to do it."

The fact that Stewart is an everyman sort played a role as well.

"Tony's a real guy," Pace said. "It was interesting a few weeks back that he was the one who had to talk about the tires [at Atlanta]. That's somewhat controversial stuff, but Tony is just who he is, and he tells you straight what's going on and that's a good thing. He shoots straight all the time and he's obviously an unbelievably good driver, and that's who we wanted to be associated with."

This weekend's debut -- at a race that Subway sponsors -- is no accident.

"In marketing circles you'll hear people throw around the word synergy all the time, and usually it exists more in the conference room than it does in the real world," Pace said. "The nice thing about debuting at Phoenix is it's the Subway Fresh Fit 500 and Tony will be driving the Subway car, so we'll have a little more attention from it."

Pace also said that NASCAR's fan loyalty remains a factor in the company's decision to activate inside it.

"NASCAR fans are very passionate and supportive of the sponsors that support the sport," he said. "It's been good for NASCAR's business and it's been good for Subway's business, and this is another way of expanding that."