Busch Returns To Racing In 2016 As Sponsor Of Driver Kevin Harvick And No. 4 Team Of Stewart-Haas Racing

Storied Brand to Engage with Fans "Earning It" at Racetracks Nationwide and Launch @BuschBeer Twitter Handle

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Oct 08, 2015, 02:39 ET

CONCORD, N.C., Oct. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Busch announced today that the brand will return to NASCAR, reigniting its storied history in the sport by sponsoring Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 team of Stewart-Haas Racing for select races beginning with the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

During a press conference with Busch and Stewart-Haas Racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 8, 2015 in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Busch will return to NASCAR, reigniting its storied history in the sport of racing by sponsoring Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 team of Stewart-Haas Racing for select races beginning with the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Busch, Busch Light and other special-edition Busch paint schemes will be featured on Harvick's No. 4 Chevrolet SS for 12 races in 2016. The iconic Busch logo will first appear on the hood for the Feb. 13 Sprint Unlimited at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. Formerly known as the Busch Clash, this non-points exhibition race helped kick-start the brand's involvement with NASCAR 36 years ago. Additional races will be determined shortly after NASCAR releases the 2016 Sprint Cup schedule.

"Busch's NASCAR roots go back to 1978 and we're thrilled to reconnect with these passionate fans that identify with our 'Here's to Earning It' message on a daily basis," said Chelsea Phillips, Director of Value Brands, Anheuser-Busch. "Kevin and the entire No. 4 team have been tremendous partners for Anheuser-Busch since 2011 and we have exciting plans to engage with the NASCAR community both on and off the track nationwide in 2016."

Harvick has represented Budweiser since 2011, and in 2014 he and Budweiser moved to Stewart-Haas Racing. In their inaugural season with the team co-owned by Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, Harvick made five trips to victory lane and won the 2014 Sprint Cup championship.

The Busch brand, along with its current tagline "Here's to Earning It," has a time-honored tradition of rewarding hard-working men and women who "earn it" every day, which aligns perfectly with the NASCAR fan base.

"Busch beer belongs in NASCAR," said Harvick, a winner of 31 Sprint Cup races, eight of which have come with Stewart-Haas Racing. "The entire Stewart-Haas Racing team and I can't wait to have the Busch logo on the No. 4 car next season as we work toward another Sprint Cup championship."

To celebrate their return to the sport, Busch will employ a comprehensive marketing approach to engage with racing enthusiasts and loyal Busch consumers through on-track, experiential, in-market and retail activations during the 2016 NASCAR season. TV spots will also air leading up to the season and during races, recognizing Harvick, his pit crew and fans alike who "earn it" every day so they can enjoy race weekends.

"NASCAR provides the opportunity to further the brand marketing initiative of recognizing outdoor pursuits of our Busch drinkers and celebrate those hard-working individuals behind the scenes that help the No. 4 car perform week-in-and-week-out," added Phillips.

In conjunction with the NASCAR announcement, and to remain in touch with Busch drinkers, Busch is expanding its social media presence by launching the brand's first-ever Twitter handle. Starting today, consumers can follow @BuschBeer and use the hashtag #BuschIsBack.

Busch has a rich racing history and some of the highlights of the brand's involvement in the sport from its beginning include:

Sponsored the Busch Pole Award in 1978, which was presented to the pole winner of each NASCAR Winston Cup Series race
Sponsored Cale Yarborough's No. 11 car throughout the 1979 and 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup seasons
Introduced the Busch Clash in 1979, held each year at Daytona International Speedway the week prior to the Daytona 500
Served as the title sponsor of NASCAR's stepping-stone division to Sprint Cup – currently known as the NASCAR XFINITY Series – from 1984 through 2007
Expanded involvement with racing via the Busch All-Star Tour in 1985, a series of dirt track events in the Midwest
"Official Beer of NASCAR" from 1988 through 1997

"Some of my fondest racing career memories to-date involve the Busch brand, including winning the 2001 and 2006 Busch Series championships," Harvick said. "The brand is historic and I'm looking forward to building the Busch racing legacy with all that we're able to accomplish in 2016."

About Busch Beer
Busch was introduced in 1955 – holding a noted place in Anheuser-Busch history as the first new brand after the repeal of Prohibition – and still features the same time-honored recipe that was first brewed 60 years ago. Busch Light and Busch are currently the sixth and seventh best-selling beers in America, respectively. For more information on Busch or its involvement with NASCAR, visit www.Busch.com, www.Twitter.com/BuschBeer or www.Facebook.com/Busch.

About Anheuser-Busch
For more than 160 years, Anheuser-Busch and its world-class brewmasters have carried on a legacy of brewing America's most-popular beers. Starting with the finest ingredients sourced from Anheuser-Busch's family of growers, every batch is crafted using the same exacting standards and time-honored traditions passed down through generations of proud Anheuser-Busch brewmasters and employees. Best known for its fine American-style lagers, Budweiser and Bud Light, the company's beers lead numerous beer segments and combined hold 47.2 percent share of the U.S. beer market. Anheuser-Busch is the U.S. arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev and operates 14 local breweries, 17 distributorships and 23 agricultural and packaging facilities across the United States, representing a capital investment of more than $15.5 billion. Its flagship brewery remains in St. Louis, Mo., and is among the global company's largest and most technologically capable breweries. Visitor and special beermaster tours are available at its St. Louis and four other Anheuser-Busch breweries. For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.

About Stewart-Haas Racing:
Stewart-Haas Racing is the title-winning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team co-owned by three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. The team fields four entries in the elite Sprint Cup Series – the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart, the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet for Danica Patrick, the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John's Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick and the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet for Kurt Busch. Based in Kannapolis, North Carolina, Stewart-Haas Racing operates out of a 200,000-square-foot facility with approximately 280 employees. For more information, please visit us on the Web at www.StewartHaasRacing.com, on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/StewartHaasRacing, on Twitter @StewartHaasRcng and on Instagram @StewartHaasRacing.