American Ethanol Green E15 Fuels And Powers All 43 Daytona Starters

DAYTONA BEACH, Feb. 17, 2011: All 43 machines in Sunday’s famed Daytona 500 will have a new ingredient in their respective fuel tanks when the green flag drops for the 53rd running of the “Great American Race” (1 p.m. EST, Sunday, Feb. 20, on Fox).

The “greening” of NASCAR has expanded to every vehicle in the starting field Sunday with the introduction of Sunoco Green E15 racing fuel at the legendary 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.

The Sunoco Green E15 fuel is a new 15-percent ethanol blend made with corn grown in the United States. It is cleaner burning and is providing more horsepower to the race cars.

Last December in Las Vegas, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France officially announced the major partnership between the world’s largest stock car organization and American Ethanol led by the ethanol advocacy group Growth Energy. The long-term agreement shows the important commitment of NASCAR to continue to “go green” and set new standards in conservation, while helping create new jobs across the U.S.

American Ethanol will support drivers, teams and tracks with marketing, promotional activities, advertising and a season-long weekly contingency award in 2011. The contingency award will appear on each car competing this weekend at Daytona, and throughout the 2011 season, as an American Ethanol decal around the car’s fuel port.

Two well-known NASCAR personalities will assist in the promotion of American Ethanol in 2011 with former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™ champion and current television analyst Rusty Wallace and Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™ star Clint Bowyer speaking about the benefits of ethanol to NASCAR and passenger vehicles.

American Ethanol brings a popular declaration to the NASCAR partnership, as the completely renewable fuel is made in America and produces hundreds of thousands of jobs, reduces the dependence on foreign oil and improves the U.S. environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 59 percent.

Growth Energy, a coalition of U.S. ethanol supporters including farmers and members of the ethanol supply chain, and the National Corn Growers Association have worked closely with NASCAR officials to implement “the green initiative” with the cars campaigning in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series™ and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™.

Growth Energy and the National Corn Growers Association (“NCGA”) have geared up their activation to promote the initial event with Sunoco Green E15 fuel in NASCAR including a special “Countdown to Daytona” which began on Feb. 7.

“As we roll up to the Daytona 500, you’ll see a series of American Ethanol promotions and outreach efforts,” said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. “This is really a first-time event for our industry—and an exciting time to be part of ethanol.”

The American Ethanol campaign leading into Sunday’s Daytona 500 is targeted to many ethanol supporters as well as race fans with updates posted prior to “The Great American Race.”

For the first time in NASCAR history, the green flag at the start of each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event will feature an American Ethanol logo. Nearly 100 entities, including NCGA, have joined to promote ethanol at NASCAR®-sanctioned events.

In addition, some 120,000 smaller green ethanol flags will be passed out to every spectator to be displayed throughout the massive Daytona International Speedway grandstands at the start of the Daytona 500 to commence American Ethanol’s debut in NASCAR.

Some 70,000 gallons of American-made ethanol is scheduled to be used during the 2011 NASCAR racing season. The Sunoco Green E15 is blended at the Sunoco Inc. facility in Marcus Hook, Pa.

NASCAR is communicating various significant steps taken in the green space. As an element of a NASCAR Green public awareness campaign, NASCAR will be promoting its move to a blend of American ethanol, and its new high-performance racing fuel, Sunoco Green E15. As the Growth Energy and the NCGA partnerships are significant news for the sport, American farming images will be used in the campaign’s first spot. The ads are designed to showcase NASCAR’s emerging Green platform – the pillars being: conservation of the environment, American jobs, and American energy independence. This is the first in a long-term series of communications through television and other channels as NASCAR grows awareness of its Green initiative.

“NASCAR is very proud to welcome as partners the hard-working family farmers all over the United States who grow the corn that will be used in our new Sunoco Green E15 fuel,” said Brian France, Chairman and CEO of NASCAR. “We are happy our sport can play a part in creating jobs and fostering energy independence by using a renewable fuel grown and produced in America.”

ABOUT GROWTH ENERGY Growth Energy is a group committed to the promise of agriculture and growing America’s economy through cleaner, greener energy. Growth Energy members recognize America needs a new ethanol approach. Through smart policy reform and a proactive grassroots campaign, Growth Energy promotes reducing greenhouse gas emissions, expanding the use of ethanol in gasoline, decreasing our dependence on foreign oil, and creating American jobs at home. More information can be found at GrowthEnergy.org.

ABOUT NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for one of North America's premier sports. NASCAR is the No. 1 spectator sport – with more of the top 20 highest attended sporting events in the U.S. than any other sport, and is the No. 2-rated regular-season sport on television. NASCAR races are broadcast in more than 150 countries and in 20 languages. NASCAR fans are the most brand loyal in all of sports, and as a result more Fortune 500 companies participate in NASCAR than any other sport.

NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), four regional series, and one local grassroots series, as well as two international series. Also part of NASCAR is GRAND-AM Road Racing, known for its competition on road courses with multiple classes of cars. NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races at 100 tracks in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico. Based in Daytona Beach (Fla.), NASCAR has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Charlotte (N.C.), Concord (N.C.), Conover (N.C.), Bentonville (Ark.), Mexico City, and Toronto.