Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team change was one of NASCAR's top stories entering 2008. How did things turn out?

For the year, Earnhardt generated $26.15 million in value for his three sponsors - Amp Energy, the National Guard and Mountain Dew. That's five percent more than what he delivered in 2007 for his former primary marketing partner, Budweiser.

With Earnhardt's move, Budweiser put its support (and dollars) behind Kasey Kahne in 2008. It ended up with $11.75 million in exposure value, less than half of what it received with Earnhardt in 2007.

Helping the exposure for Earnhardt's backers this year was the fact he had a better year on the track.

In 2007, he finished 16th in the Sprint Cup standings, with no victories and seven top-five finishes. In 2008, he finished 12th, made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, won one race and had ten top-five finishes.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 2008 exposures:

Brand - Number of detections – Duration - Value

Amp - 2,045 – 2hr 36min 53.7secs - $13,806,501
National Guard - 1,654 – 2hr 11min 57.0secs - $10,494,189
Mountain Dew - 330 - 0hr 23min 45.3secs - $1,845,448

Budweiser's driver-based exposures:

Placement; Number of detections; Duration; Value

2008: Kasey Kahne - 1,522 – 1hr 59min 41.7secs - $11,749,224
2007: Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 2,826 - 3hr 51min 35.0secs - $24,845,048

by David Broughton/Sporting News

David Broughton is research director for SportsBusiness Journal