Full Throttle

Go Daddy is announcing its return to NASCAR for the 2009 season with another sponsorship deal featuring Dale Earnhardt Jr. The agreement also includes Brad Keselowski and spans both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series in partnership with Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports.

Go Daddy will be the primary sponsor for 20 races in the 2009 Nationwide Series. Back for another season is NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who designed the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolets for the 2009 Nationwide Series season.

“I’m happy to be partnered with GoDaddy.com again, and I appreciate the much larger role they are playing in our organization this season,” said Earnhardt Jr., who also owns JR Motorsports. “I look forward to seeing Brad drive the Go Daddy car this season in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.”

Go Daddy will also be the primary sponsor of the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolets for seven races in the Sprint Cup Series with Keselowski behind the wheel. In addition, Go Daddy will be an associate sponsor on Mark Martin’s No. 5 Chevrolets in the Sprint Cup Series.

“Go Daddy has an all-star lineup of drivers including NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. and IndyCar’s Danica Patrick,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “What could be better than to expand our sponsorship of these powerhouse racers and return to Sprint Cup competition with Brad Keselowski.”

General Motors Corp. has renewed its decades-long sponsorship of the Daytona International Speedway and its signature stock car race, the Daytona 500, but at a cheaper price.

And instead of a multi-year deal, the cash-strapped automaker will sponsor NASCAR’s most prestigious event on a year-to-year basis. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The renewal ends speculation that GM’s money woes, which have triggered a scaling back of corporate sponsorships, would force the automaker to terminate sponsorship of an event that was the top-rated motorsports telecast in North America last year. The multi-year deal expired Dec. 31.

TEAM NEWS

Tommy Baldwin, a five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup and former Daytona 500 winning crew chief, announced the formation of a new Sprint Cup Series race team that will compete full time in 2009.

Baldwin, 41, announced Tuesday that Tommy Baldwin Racing will field Toyotas and plans to be ready for the 51st running of the Daytona 500 in February. Sponsorship has yet to be determined.

The veteran crew chief won the Daytona 500 with Ward Burton in 2002, and has also has worked atop the box for Bill Davis Racing, Robert Yates Racing, Evernham Motorsports and Ultra Motorsports.

“With tough economic times upon us, the timing for starting this team is right,” Baldwin said. “Our overhead is low and we have a great group of talented mechanics and specialists to choose from.

“We can offer sponsors the chance to get into NASCAR Sprint Cup racing at a fraction of the costs, without compromising on-track performance, due to our low overhead.”

ThorSport Racing has named Johnny Sauter driver of the No. 13 truck in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2009, the organization announced on Tuesday.

This will be Sauter’s first full-time foray into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. “I’m excited to race fulltime in the Truck Series, and to do it with a quality team like ThorSport,” Sauter said. “The Truck Series provides some of the best racing out there, with a tremendous ‘grass-roots’ feel.”

Sauter joins forces with teammate Matt Crafton at ThorSport Racing. Crafton is the driver of the No. 88 Menards Silverado. He finished 5th in last season’s championship standings. “Matt has tremendous knowledge and he’s had great success in this series, and I’m looking forward to learning from him and bouncing ideas off each other,” said Sauter. “There’s nobody better than Matt to get me up to speed in this series. He’s more than willing to share his knowledge, and that is invaluable to me.”