While much of the focus during this weekend's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 will be directed to the battle for the Chase for the Championship field, it will not be the center of attention for Dale Jarrett and the #88 UPS Racing Team. The team will race its first special paint scheme of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season on behalf of sponsor UPS, who will be rolling out the #88 UPS FreightSM Ford Fusion for Saturday night's main event in Richmond, Va.
In an effort to expand its service portfolio by offering a variety of less-than-truckload (LTL) and truckload services (TL) for customers in North America, UPS acquired Overnite® Transportation Company in 2005, which immediately positioned UPS as a top LTL carrier in the United States.
As one of America's leading LTL carriers, Overnite has been providing LTL and TL services for more than 70 years, operating in all 50 states, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Mexico. Also included under the Overnite umbrella is Motor Cargo, a regional LTL carrier that operated primarily in the western United States, but along with Overnite, formed one of the largest LTL carriers in the United States with more than 200 service centers and 14,200 employees.
As part of the acquisition, UPS announced the transition to UPS Freight and started the process of re-branding Overnite to UPS Freight. In honor of that re-branding process, the UPS Team will race a UPS Freight paint scheme in Richmond, Va., which is the location of UPS Freight headquarters.
UPS is now a top freight carrier with expanded services that will help customers more easily synchronize the movement of goods, information and funds, as the single-source solutions offered by UPS now include a full suite of heavy freight services from air to ground to ocean.
"This is probably one of the best examples of UPS utilizing this sponsorship to promote the different businesses in which they're involved," said Dale Jarrett, driver of the UPS Ford. "They have always done the best job of using this race program to create brand awareness."
"It's even more impressive when you consider how they have used the program to complete their business decisions, such as three years ago, when they introduced The UPS Store," Jarrett added. "It's an honor for this team to be included in these milestones for UPS."
To celebrate the occasion, Jarrett will make an appearance at the UPS Freight headquarters on Wednesday, September 6th. Jarrett will assist UPS Freight employees in kicking off this year's United Way campaign.
While there will be activities at UPS Freight headquarters, the main event will be the #88 UPS Freight Ford's participation in the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway (RIR). UPS is the Official Delivery Company of Richmond and will have a newly branded UPS Freight tractor and trailer on display at RIR, where 100 UPS Freight employees will be in attendance for the racing festivities. The UPS Freight Ford will take to the track for the first time on Friday when the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series cars begin preparations for 400-laps of racing on the "Action Track" this Saturday night.
