NASCAR Lands $18 Billion Company as Truck Series Sponsor

NASCAR’s Truck Series is getting a new name in 2027, and the company taking over one of the sport’s biggest sponsorship properties carries some serious financial weight.

NASCAR announced Thursday that FedEx Freight will become the entitlement partner of the Truck Series beginning next season as part of a new long-term agreement. The series will officially become the NASCAR FedEx Freight Truck Series in 2027.

The size of the company behind the deal immediately stands out. FedEx Freight, which became an independent publicly traded company earlier this year, currently carries a market capitalization of roughly $18 billion.

That is not the reported value of the NASCAR agreement, financial terms of which were not disclosed. It is the value the market currently places on FedEx Freight itself.

For NASCAR, though, landing a multibillion-dollar company for a long-term entitlement deal is significant. And this isn’t simply another sponsorship being added to the portfolio.

FedEx Freight is putting its name directly on one of NASCAR’s three national series.

NASCAR Lands FedEx Freight at a Pivotal Moment for the Company

There is also a lot more behind the timing of this deal than a natural truck-meets-Truck-Series connection.

FedEx Freight only recently began its next chapter as a standalone business after separating from FedEx Corp. The company became independent in June and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FDXF.

Now NASCAR will play a major role in how that newly independent company builds its identity in front of a national audience.

“FedEx Freight choosing NASCAR for a brand investment of this magnitude says a lot about where our sport is today and the value our platform can deliver to businesses looking to grow,” NASCAR senior vice president and chief commercial officer Craig Stimmel said.

Stimmel also pointed directly to the obvious connection between the two brands.

“And there may not be a more natural pairing than FedEx Freight and the NASCAR Truck Series,” he continued. “This is a series built on trucks, toughness and people who compete incredibly hard to deliver every single week.”

FedEx Freight is North America’s largest less-than-truckload carrier, according to NASCAR’s announcement, with a network of more than 365 locations, approximately 40,000 team members and nearly 30,000 vehicles.

Its NASCAR investment won’t stop with putting the company name on the Truck Series, either.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, FedEx Freight will also become an Official Partner of NASCAR and the sanctioning body’s exclusive freight shipping partner in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

That makes this a much broader relationship than a simple series rebrand.

NASCAR Truck Series Will Have a New Name Beginning in 2027

FedEx Freight is using NASCAR as a major platform at a particularly important point in its own history.

“Some partnerships just make sense,” FedEx Freight president and CEO John Smith said. “As FedEx Freight moves forward in its next chapter as an independent company, we are focused on opportunities that strengthen our brand and support our long-term growth strategy and we are confident the NASCAR FedEx Freight Truck Series will deliver.”

The Truck Series has carried several identities during its more than three decades of competition.

It debuted as the NASCAR SuperTruck Series presented by Craftsman in 1995 before becoming the Craftsman Truck Series. Camping World took over title sponsorship in 2009, with the series later racing under the Gander Outdoors and Camping World names. Craftsman returned as entitlement sponsor in 2023.

Now another major change is coming.

And while the FedEx Freight name makes almost comical sense attached to a series built around pickup trucks, the bigger story for NASCAR is the caliber of the company making the investment.

FedEx Freight is newly independent, publicly traded and valued by the market at approximately $18 billion. As it begins establishing itself outside the larger FedEx corporate umbrella, it has chosen NASCAR for a long-term partnership that puts its brand at the very top of a national racing series.

Beginning in 2027, the NASCAR FedEx Freight Truck Series will officially take the green flag.