First Tennessee Partners with Dave Blaney, Jasper Motorsports for Sharpie 500

;MEMPHIS, Tenn.--June 4, 2003--First Tennessee is living life in the fast lane with the company's first NASCAR car sponsorship. First Tennessee has partnered with Jasper Engines and Transmissions and the #77 Jasper Engines Ford Taurus driven by Dave Blaney. A special paint scheme prominently featuring the well-known First Tennessee logo will appear on the #77 car at the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 23.
    First Tennessee recently announced that the company has renewed its partnership with Bristol Motor Speedway as the Official Financial Services Provider of BMS and Bristol Dragway. To celebrate these partnerships, First Tennessee is offering NASCAR fans the Ultimate Bristol Experience through a sweepstakes that will run during July. Grand-prize winners will receive trips for four to the Sharpie 500, where they will stay in an exclusive motor coach at the track, meet the owner of the #77 Jasper Engines & Transmissions Ford and have seats in the First Tennessee suite. First-prize winners will receive four suite tickets to the Sharpie 500. Second- and third-prize winners will receive First Tennessee racing merchandise.
    During the Sharpie 500, the #77 Jasper Motorsports Ford will be referred to as the #77 First Tennessee car. Throughout the summer, a replica of the #77 First Tennessee car will make appearances at First Tennessee financial centers across the state.
    "NASCAR is a hugely popular sport in Tennessee, and it only makes sense that the state's most successful financial services company would support something that's important to so many of its customers," said Newt Raff, president of Northeast Tennessee for First Tennessee. "I have to admit that our logo looks like it was designed just to fit on that #77 car."
    Dave Blaney and the #77 Jasper Engines & Transmissions Ford team enter this weekend's Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway ranked 19th in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series standings, 99 points behind 13th-place Joe Nemechek and Jeff Burton (tied). Blaney's 20th-place finish at Dover last weekend was his fourth straight top-20 finish after a disappointing April stretch.
    In March, Blaney posted a career-best third-place finish at Darlington, his third top-10 finish over a four-week stretch (10th at NCS after his first career pole position, eighth at Atlanta) following the season-opening Daytona 500.

    About First Tennessee

    The First Tennessee National Corp. family of companies provides financial services to individual and business customers through First Tennessee Bank, which has earned one of the highest customer retention rates of any bank in the country; First Horizon Home Loans, which earned a top-five ranking in customer satisfaction from J.D. Power and Associates.; FTN Financial, one of the nation's top underwriters of U.S. government agency securities; and First Horizon Merchant Services, one of the most successful processors of credit card payments for the travel industry. More than 10,000 FTN employees provide financial services through hundreds of offices located in more than 30 states. FTN companies have been recognized as some of the nation's best employers by Working Mother, Business Week and Fortune magazines. FTN also was named one of the nation's 100 best corporate citizens by Business Ethics magazine. More information can be found at www.FirstTennessee.com.