HARRISBURG, N.C. (January 31, 2018) - As Kroger enters its ninth year as a primary sponsor at JTG Daugherty Racing, the supermarket giant is expanding its involvement in the two-car operation by rebranding their marketing efforts to create "Team Kroger ClickList Racing" for the 2018 season and beyond.

Kroger and its digital shopping experience, ClickList, have always been a primary partner of AJ Allmendinger and the No. 47 team, and Allmendinger will continue to pilot the No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in 2018. As part of the "one team, two drivers" synergy, Kroger ClickList will now also be prominent on the fire suits, crew apparel, and team equipment of Chris Buescher and the No. 37 team. Buescher will also accompany Allmendinger at various Kroger race market store appearances throughout the season. The rebranding strategy is aimed to convey a united front among the two JTG Daugherty Racing drivers, building collaboration and a steady footwork for the future.

"When we sat down with the executives at Kroger during the offseason, we collectively felt like this was an important step in the direction of JTG Daugherty Racing with Kroger," team owner Tad Geschickter said. "This is not only increases the value our program for Kroger, but is also pivotal in our vendor program. We work with several high-profile brands on both the 37 and the 47, and we feel that having a one team, two driver platform will only strengthen the relationships that we have with current sponsor partners as well as brand partners for the future."

"We've got a lot of great partners but to have Kroger on the hood every race, we're one of the only teams in the garage to have that," Allmendinger said. "We're very fortunate to have great people over at Kroger who support the racing program and believe in Chris and me as drivers. It means a lot to have them unite us as one team right now and make an investment to make both of our race cars a lot faster. A lot of great work has gone in this off season and I think those enhancements will make us a lot stronger. We can only thank Kroger ClickList for giving us the opportunity to do so."

"We're getting a clean start to the new year with Kroger and all of our other primary partners including BUSH'S Beans and Scott Products, hitting the ground running in Daytona," Buescher said. "We're really excited about becoming part of the 'one team, two drivers' mentality this season with Kroger ClickList. That's going to build up a lot of momentum for both AJ and I, and I can't wait to see what we can bring back to the Kroger team at the end of this season."

--- JTG Daugherty Racing ---

Original report: Kroger is expanding its Clicklist activation with NASCAR's JTG Daugherty Racing to have the digital shopping experience promoted across both the team's Cup Series cars starting this season.

Kroger began activating the Clicklist program, which allows curbside pickup of groceries purchased online, last year in NASCAR, but only promoted it on JTG's #47 Chevy driven by A.J. Allmendinger. This year, it will begin promoting Clicklist on both the #47 as well as the #37 driven by Chris Buescher.

Crew members for the #37 will wear Kroger Clicklist firesuits and uniforms, and the Kroger logo will appear on the car as primary sponsor in some races.

Kroger worked with JTG Owner Tad Geschickter and VP/Sponsorship Marketing & Corporate Partnerships Paul Zindrick to reorganize its unknown annual spend across both cars, though the #47 will remain the lead Kroger car.

Kroger VP/Grocery Merchandising Mel Bomprezzi said that Kroger will also continue its B2B deal with NASCAR premier series title sponsor Monster Energy this year.

--- Sports Business Daily ---