Rush Truck Centers is back for the 2014 season as an Stewart-Haas Racing partner, making its season debut as primary sponsor for Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Chevrolet SS this weekend in Fontana.
A subsidiary of Rush Enterprises Inc., Rush Truck Centers is the premier service solutions provider to the commercial vehicle industry and the U.S.’ largest network of truck and bus dealerships, representing industry-leading brands, commented the company. Rush Truck Centers operate as one-stop centers offering an integrated approach to the needs of its customers.
As a partner of SHR since 2010, Rush Truck Centers has played an integral role in getting the team’s racecars to and from the track. The relationship evolved and the company signed on to be the primary sponsor for Stewart at three events in 2013. In 2014, Rush Truck Centers will serve as a primary sponsor of Stewart and the No. 14 team for five races, with the Auto Club 400 serving as its kickoff.
“We’ve been doing business with Rush Truck Centers for years,” said Stewart. “It’s an established relationship that has a much higher profile thanks to Rush Truck Centers becoming a primary sponsor with our team. Rush Truck Centers keeps our trucks and transporters up and running, and you could argue those are the most important parts of our race team. Without them, our cars never get to the racetrack. The employees of Rush Truck Centers are as detail-oriented as we are, and they play a critical role in the success of our race team.”
Stewart and Co. are coming off a season-best fourth-place finish at Bristol. Now they carry that momentum to Fontana, a track where Stewart is already a two-time Sprint Cup winner, the most recent of which came in 2012 in a rain-shortened race around the 2-mile oval.
Since SHR’s inaugural season, Stewart’s poorest Auto Club result is the 22nd-place finish he earned last season, the result of an incident with Joey Logano in the final laps that dropped him from the top-10, where he had competed for the majority of the race. In the seven races since 2009, Stewart has failed to lead a lap only once, which was in February 2010 when he finished ninth.