Target to exit NASCAR when 2017 deal ends

Target will not renew its deal with Kyle Larson’s Chip Ganassi Racing Chevy after 2017, completing an exit from motorsports at the end of its current contract.

"Over the past season, Target has worked closely with Chip Ganassi Racing on this transition. We have incredible respect for Chip and the talented team he has assembled, and are confident they will continue to see great success for years to come,” Katie Boyland, senior vice president of communications for Target, said in a statement.

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Having partnered with Ganassi since 1990, Target announced last July that it was ending its 27-year relationship with Ganassi’s IndyCar program at the end of 2016. The longstanding tie between CGR and Target was bolstered by a close relationship between Ganassi and the company's former CEO, but with a change atop Target's management team in 2014, the first cracks in the IndyCar sponsorship program formed that season as Target reduced its commitment from two cars to a single entry for Dixon.

Target has had a presence with Ganassi in NASCAR since 2002. In late 2016 Target cut back on the number of races in which Target would serve as Larson’s primary sponsor. The company, through both its Target and other vendor brands such as Axe, Energizer, and Clorox, has been Larson's sole sponsor since he joined the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2014. 

"I have had an unbelievable relationship with Target for 28 years, and I have to thank them for their long-time support," Ganassi said.

CGR president Steve Lauletta told SportsBusiness Daily that the organization will look to replicate something similar to a deal with sponsors such as Credit One Bank, which sponsored the No. 1 of Jamie McMurray for a handful of races before moving several races to the 42.

“[The Credit One sponsorship has] been a great success all around, and now we’ll just have to do that again, and we will do that again,” he told SBD. “We feel like the potential for us is just sort of starting, and we’re happy that we’ve got a lot of conversations already going on that we can now put Kyle and the No. 42 in the middle of and get ourselves set for the future.”

SBD reports that CGR has a multi-race sponsor for the season that is new to both the team and the sport that it will introduce in the coming weeks.

Target isn't leaving the sports landscape; the company announced in January it would shift its focus to soccer.

"As we looked to evolve our sports marketing program, soccer provided Target with a unique opportunity to reach our guests in new places, and at all levels of the sport," Target said in a statement. "Through partnerships with Major League Soccer, Minnesota United FC, US Youth Soccer and the U.S. Soccer Foundation, Target has been able to create meaningful connections with players, fans and families, no matter how they participate in the sport."

RACER's Kelly Crandall and Marshall Pruett contributed to this report.