CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Richard Petty Motorsports and Darrell Wallace Jr. took one more step towards filling out their sponsorship portfolio for the season with the announcement on Tuesday that World Wide Technology will back the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in six Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races.
In addition, World Wide Technology – a market-leading technology solution provider – will serve as the official technology and analytics partner of Richard Petty Motorsports and will provide the team with data analytics consulting and technology solutions, with the goal of improving team performance.
The deal was confirmed during a press event at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, with the official unveiling of the No. 43 World Wide Technology Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Wallace’s excitement for the new deal was palpable after the car was unveiled, calling it “a big deal” for both he and the team as a whole.
“This is a huge opportunity for us. My dad’s actually here to see the unveil, and he knows how tough the sponsorship hunt has been for us through the years as a family, so it’s great to finally announce that we have a big time partnership for our team,” said Wallace. “This is going to help us grow in the right direction. We’ve done a lot in the first few months of the season to revamp our program and work at getting Richard Petty Motorsports back to its winning ways, and even though we haven’t gotten to victory lane yet, I think we’re showing signs that we can do that and we’re finding consistency.
“I’m satisfied so far. I don’t know if he (Richard Petty) is ever satisfied,” joked Wallace. “But I definitely think we’re making strides towards where we want to go and I have confidence we’re going to get there.”
Wallace cited a meeting with several key members of World Wide Technology at Texas Motor Speedway last month, a race in which he finished eighth for his first top-10 since the Daytona 500, as central to shoring up the partnership.
“For a company as big as World Wide Technology to step into our sport and put themselves in a position to potentially grow their support even more is huge, and Texas was a pivotal weekend,” noted Wallace. “That was a race that we had these guys out at the race track and it ended up being a strong showing for us. We had a really great run and really impressed them, and I think that was the final ticket.”
The first race for Wallace with the World Wide Technology colors will be at Kansas Speedway on May 12.
World Wide Technology will return to the car at Sonoma Raceway on June 24, Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 9, Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sept. 16, Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sept. 30 and Dover Int’l Speedway on Oct. 7.
“World Wide Technology is thrilled to partner with Wallace Jr. and Richard Petty Motorsports,” said Matt Horner, senior vice president of global enterprise sales for WWT. “NASCAR is a sport where small variables have a large impact, and we’re excited to help Richard Petty Motorsports harness big data for bigger results.
“We have three main goals: to create cultures of inclusion, innovation and inspiration, and we feel that all of those boxes are checked in our support of Bubba and with Richard Petty Motorsports. Bubba is going to be the face of NASCAR going into the future, and we couldn’t be prouder to be a part of that.”
Wallace added that the importance of RPM inking the deal with World Wide Technology goes beyond a normal team and sponsor relationship.
“This isn’t just a company that you go and do meet and greets with at the race track and represent their brand when they’re on the car – these guys will be in our shop, helping our engineers and crew chief (Drew Blickensderfer) to find ways to better our program,” said Wallace. “We had meetings months ago to work on finding innovative ways to help our team grow, and this is a huge step for us in multiple ways.
“Today isn’t just about sponsorship dollars. It’s about making gains on the competition side and we’re really amped up about that.”
Team namesake Richard Petty said following the unveiling that the agreement with World Wide Technology is a multi-year deal.
“(It’s for) this year and next year, for sure,” said Petty. “We’ll go from there and see what happens.”
