By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor
After an explosive 2016 campaign, which saw Martin Truex Jr. collect four victories, lead 1,809 laps and cement himself as a formidable championship contender, the Mayetta, New Jersey native is being rewarded with more sponsorship backing.
Auto-Owners Insurance, which adorned the hood of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing machine for three races in 2016, will double that commitment for the next two years according to a press release from the race team.
“Teaming up with Furniture Row Racing has been an outstanding fit for Auto-Owners, and we are excited to continue our partnership for the 2017 and 2018 seasons,” said Mary Pierce, senior vice president of marketing and sales at Auto-Owners. “Martin and the No. 78 team have pioneered their way to excellence at the highest level of NASCAR. We truly admire their hard work and consistency, and look forward to being a part of their continued success.”
Truex finished inside the top-10 in all three races that Auto-Owners Insurance was the primary sponsor in ’16 and he even won the prestigious Southern 500 at Darlington while flying their colors.
“Winning the Southern 500 – a triple crown race – with the blue Auto-Owners Insurance paint scheme was without a doubt one of the main highlights of my racing career,” said Truex. “We want to give Auto-Owners Insurance more success as we look forward to the 2017 season. I was able to visit the Auto-Owners Insurance headquarters in Lansing and came away feeling proud to be associated with a company that has had 100 years of success.”
This season, Auto-Owners will serve as the primary sponsor at Kansas in May, Michigan in June, Indianapolis in July, Richmond in September, Charlotte in October and Phoenix in November.
This is a huge building block for a team that for so long was sponsored solely by its owner’s personal company — Furniture Row. Truex and the No. 78 Toyota team will look to continue building on their amazing successes over the last couple of years.
