Nationwide puts Cherry on top

15 March 2009 | Posted in Sponsorship, Motorsport | By

Nationwide Mutual Insurance, the official auto, home and life insurance partner of Nascar, will sponsor 19-year-old driver Michael Cherry for the 2009 season. Cherry, from Valrico, Florida, will race for Addis Motorsports, and has been selected for Nascar's 'Drive for Diversity' programme, which aims to help minority and female drivers breaking into the sport, for the second season running.

"It's an honour to support Michael Cherry as he works his way up in Nascar," said Nationwide's Carlo White. "This sponsorship is a great opportunity for Nationwide to support diversity in racing, and that's something that is very important to us. Michael is a very promising young racer and will be a great representative of the Nationwide Insurance brand."

The company is title sponsor of the Nascar Nationwide Series, the sport's second most popular racing series, which attracts nearly three million fans and draws viewing figures of many times that.

"It's truly an honour to represent Nationwide Insurance," said Cherry. "The addition of their sponsorship to our Addis team and the Drive for Diversity initiative really makes this an unbelievable opportunity for me. I definitely plan to make the most of it."