Home improvement retailer Menards has officially become a co-sponsor of the ARCA racing series alongside current sponsor RE/MAX.

The newly dubbed ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards will begin with the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona International Speedway in February.

This new partnership is an expansion on Menards’ 2009 sponsorship package with the series which included co-sponsorship of the pole qualifying award, official category sponsorship, naming rights to the series’ spring race at Toledo Speedway and a co-sponsorship on Frank Kimmel’s race car. The concept also involved a business-to-business partnership with Ansell Protective Products, LLC.

"For ARCA and Menards, we have established a very solid understanding of the opportunities and responsibilities on each side of the agreement,” Mark Gundrum, ARCA Vice President of Marketing and Communications, said. “We feel there is tremendous potential for growth of this relationship going forward."

The collaboration between Ansell and Menards was beneficial to Kimmel, a nine-time series champion, who ended the 2009 season 3rd in points.

"It's been a great relationship with Menards and Ansell," Kimmel said. "It's so gratifying to know that both companies will be back full strength with Kimmel Racing in 2010. Toward the end of this year, we really got our program much more competitive and we look forward to building on that."

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