Corporate types demand to see a return on there investment. Simply put, each time a car runs well, it receives media exposure. The 49 plus seconds it takes to get around Daytona International Speedway with a rolling billboard can be calculated to a financial figure. Those figures are always guarded, but we can assume it is not cheap. Adverting means sales.
Sales translate into happy investors.
Demonstrating the power of this relationship, sales of Proctor and Gamble Products have already risen in New England with the announcement the Maine s Ricky Craven is piloting the Tide Ride. If Dodge had performed poorly, they would not be seeing a return on there investment. In the business world, loosing efforts are not tolerated. An embarrassing showing at Daytona qualifying could have easily meant that by the end of 2001, Evernham, Elliott, and the rest of the Dodge teams could have joined the 26,000,just as easily as Daimler closed down the plants out of the country. Racing is a sport where winning is everything.