Which are the five best sponsors in NASCAR?

NASCAR teams cost millions of dollars to fund, well at least the ones that prove they can win races.

This year, funding is limited as the economy is slowing progressing to be where it once was. Teams are struggling on and off the track just to run in the top 30. Teams such as Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing have struggled mightily for the majority of the 2012 NASCAR season.

Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing fields cars for Juan Pablo Montoya as well as Jamie McMurray. Both drivers have won races in NASCAR’s most premier series, but in 2012, they have just five top ten finishes combined. They have multi-million dollar sponsors which fund the entire season, one would think this would propel them to run up front on a weekly basis.

Sponsors don’t pay for everything in racing, especially when the cars are as similar as they are in NASCAR. Two tenths of a second can be the difference between running in the top five and running outside of the top 25. It’s just how things are in the most elite auto racing series there is.

Over the years, there have been several sponsors that have went the extra mile to provide teams the amount of funding they need in order to succeed. With the roughly $25 million or more spent on a full-season sponsorship, teams commit to doing the best they can. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.

Even when teams struggle, there are some sponsors who have stuck within the sports for years as they know what NASCAR can do for their brands.