On Monday the National Rifle Association announced that it reached an agreement with NASCAR to sponsor the April 13 Sprint Cup race event at Texas Motor Speedway.
According to ESPN.com, the NRA officially confirmed the move on Monday and the event will be called the NRA 500. The organization previously sponsored a Nationwide Series race at Atlanta last season and the new event will be the first time the NRA will sponsor a race on the main circuit.
Sports Business Journal first reported the news about the race on Monday.
"The NRA 500 is the latest announcement in the long history of a growing partnership between the NRA, Speedway Motorsports and the NASCAR community," NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre said Monday. "NRA members and NASCAR fans love their country and everything that is good and right about America. We salute our flag ... volunteer in our churches and communities ... cherish our families ... and we love racing! On April 13, we'll all come together at Texas Motor Speedway."
The report said that Eddie Gossage, president of Texas Motor Speedway, announced that agreement is one year with another one-year option and the deal could be in the low to mid seven figures.
"It's an organization we've enjoyed a long-standing relationship within the industry, including Speedway Motorsports [Inc.] and Speedway Charities," Gossage said during the announcement at the track.
NASCAR has been involved in honoring the victims from the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., through raising awareness and funds after making an announcement about the effort at Daytona two weeks ago. The organization also teamed up with Swan Racing to put a Sandy Hook School Support Fund and put a special paint design honoring the victims on the No. 26 car driven by Michael Waltrip in the Daytona 500.
According to the report, there were some concerns by officials that the deal with the NRA was going to come out during Speedweeks at Daytona, possibly impacting the NASCAR efforts with Newtown.
NASCAR released a statement about the agreement on Monday, saying that race sponsorships are between the track and the sponsor and that the organization "reserves the right to approve or disapprove those sponsorships."
"The race sponsor for Texas Motor Speedway's April event falls within the guidelines for approval for that event,'' NASCAR spokesperson David Higdon said in the statement.
Ed Clark, the president of Atlanta Motor Speedway, said later in the day that when the NRA sponsored the Atlanta Nationwide event, there were no negative comments.
"All favorable,'' Clark said. "We didn't get one piece of negative response that I'm familiar with. Of course, there are a lot of people more protective about their rights being taken away, but we didn't have any negative comments at all.
"I understand the sensitivity with some of the things that have gone on the last two or three years. But they [NRA] do a lot more things than just protect your rights to bear arms. They do a lot of education programs, too. People really need to be objective and look at all the positive things they do across the board.''
Although some may find the NRA sponsorship controversial, Bruton Smith, the chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc. that owns TMS, said that the organization has supported the community and was one of the "greatest contributors'' to the Speedway Children's Charities, which were set up to help impoverished, marginalized and vulnerable children and families worldwide.
NASCAR has received a great deal of media attention this season, between Danica Patrick, the crash at Daytona and now the sponsorship by the NRA.
The ESPN report also says that the winners at TMS events are usually photographed with empty six-shooters and a cowboy hat in Victory Lane, which may seem as a bit of over doing it since the NRA is sponsoring the race.
