Nationwide leaving their NASCAR Series Sponsorship at the end of 2014

SportsBusiness Daily is reporting that Nationwide Insurance will leave their sponsorship duties of NASCAR’s lower-tier series after 2014. On the plus side, they’ll be sponsoring a Cup team, buying media and still having a strong hand in the NASCAR business.

Rights to the series title and media package are around $8 million per year. Nationwide Insurance CMO Matt Jauchius says that his company hopes that they can expand brand awareness with the casual NASCAR fans.  "Being a series sponsor was the right thing at that particular time but we see Sundays (for Cup races) as the next step. You'll see us lean into this even more at the Cup level. I will spend more money in 2014 and 2015 (in NASCAR) by shifting assets around a bit."

NASCAR will be looking for a new sponsor immediately.