UPS's delivery of Ragan didn't happen overnight

When UPS set out to find the NASCAR driver who would replace Dale Jarrett, it was supposed to be like a trip to the buffet line.

UPS, one of the sport's pre-eminent sponsors, would decide which driver it liked, and in short order he'd be signed. After all, this is the sponsor that revealed Jarrett's sense of humor in those "Race the Truck" ads. Who wouldn't want that kind of creative, not to mention financial, backing?

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UPS eventually landed on David Ragan's No. 6 Ford at Roush Fenway Racing, a three-year deal at a little less than $20 million annually. The agreement was announced Sept. 12 and will kick in next year, but it culminated an odyssey that began nine months earlier and lasted much longer than expected.

"I think we were associated with just about every team and every driver available," said Ron Rogowski, UPS's director of sponsorships, who admitted that either he or his agency, Indianapolis-based Just Marketing International, talked to virtually every team with a vacancy.

UPS entered the search with clout because "it's one of those iconic brands, the type of sponsor that's a coup for Roush or any other owner," said Rod Moskowitz, a driver agent for Motorsports Management International, which represents Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne and others. "They have a strong history of activating and developing the driver brand."

But the further UPS moved down the buffet line, the more apparent it became that its budget, believed to be in the $17 million to $18 million range annually, wasn't going to deliver an elite driver. That's only slightly more than the $15 million it was spending annually at Michael Waltrip Racing to sponsor Jarrett, who retired earlier this year and was replaced by David Reutimann, and below the running rate of $20 million-plus for top drivers.

"Once they saw the dollars, they were probably like, 'OK, we're in the wrong restaurant,' " said one motorsports marketer. "That's the problem with the buffet approach. It really dragged out their timeline."

The longer the search lasted -- it began with Rogowski's trip to Daytona last February -- the more eyebrows were raised in the sport. Replacing the ultra-popular Jarrett, with whom UPS had invested nine years, required a high-profile driver on a winning team, but it wasn't as easy as it looked. (Continued)