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With Carl Edwards locked up for the foreseeable future at Roush Fenway Racing, we found out today that Fastenal is the first company to sign on as a primary sponsor for Edwards’ #99 Fords.  Starting with the 2012 Daytona 500, Fastenal will sponsor 17 races a year for Edwards over the next few years.  Edwards’ current main sponsor, Aflac, has yet to announce whether they will return to RFR, but this announcement shows that at the very least Aflac is scaling back.  But while its good to see a sponsor move from the Truck Series, through the Nationwide Series, and into Cup sponsorship, the move isn’t all good.

As we move closer to the end of the 2011 season, much remains up in the air for RFR.  Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Edwards, and David Ragan all have contracts for next season, but as of today, only Biffle (3M) has a full sponsorship deal.  Edwards still needs about half his inventory filled, and questions remain for Ragan and Kenseth.  We know for sure that Crown Royal won’t return next season as a team sponsor for anyone, as they’ve signed on to sponsor the Brickyard 400, and the future of UPS has yet to be announced.  And RFR developmental drivers Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne still don’t have firm plans.

As RFR pursues sponsorship for 2012, Fastenal’s move to the Cup Series really comes at the expense of their Nationwide Series program and the series as whole.  As one of our Twitter followers (@kebzach) pointed out today, Fastenal now represents another sponsor lost by the Nationwide Series.  The industrial supply company has been the primary sponsor for Edwards’ #60 NNS Fords for the last couple of seasons, and they’ve appeared on the hoods and quarter panels of the other RFR NNS teams as well.  We already know that Edwards won’t compete full time in the NNS for 2012, but now we know we’ve lost a full time team and a major sponsor.

We’ve all heard it time and again, but moves like these are just another symptom of the current climate of NASCAR business.  Teams need to find ways to keep their Cup cars racing, and poaching sponsors from other series is one way to go about it.  Hopefully Roush is able to track down a company to back Edwards’ partial NNS bid, and fill the remaining inventory for it’s other Cup and NNS teams.

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The business end of NASCAR is finally starting to turn around, and we saw proof of it this last week.  On Tuesday, Farmers Insurance announced a three year deal to sponsor Kasey Kahne’s #5 Chevrolets at Hendrick Motorsports.  Farmers will be the primary sponsor for 22 races each season, and will get “prominent brand placement” in all other events.  While Hendrick still has races to fill for the #5, Farmers represents new money into NASCAR, and that’s a good sign for everyone.

It seems that over the last few seasons, we’ve seen many sponsors move from one team to another, but we haven’t seen a ton of new sponsors coming in.  The downturn in the economy and NASCAR’s attendance and ratings struggles have been the main reasons.  It’s certainly not a bad thing when sponsors move teams, just as long as they stay involved in the sport.  But over time, it’s unrealistic to think that all current sponsors will stay involved.  Agendas will change and companies will leave.  It’s important to the future health of the sport that teams are able to attract sponsors that have never been involved in NASCAR before.

Farmers’ deal with Hendrick is part of a broader plan by the insurance provider to increase consumer awareness.  They’ve also signed recent deals with the PGA Tour and the proposed NFL stadium in Los Angeles.  (If you’re a Sports Business Journal subscriber, see recent article about Farmers here.)

Along with the good news from HMS, we heard from FOX this week that the overall TV ratings for their 13 events were up 9% over 2010.  As NASCAR rights deals edge closer to expiring, numbers like this will be very important in the renegotiation process.  They also help teams in selling sponsorship deals like Hendrick did with Farmers.

As the year progresses, hopefully we will see a few more deals like this one emerge.  There are plenty of teams still looking to lock down sponsorship for 2012 and beyond, including RCR’s #33, and maybe Farmers will help open up a flow of new money.

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