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BUSCH: JGR announces sponsor for Yeley

Spectrum Brands' Vigoro Lawn and Garden Products Partner with The Home Depot to Sponsor ...

Edited: Apr 16, 2008, 12:40 AM

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Spectrum Brands' Vigoro Lawn and Garden Products Partner with The Home Depot to Sponsor #18 Vigoro/Home Depot Chevrolet in NASCAR Busch Series

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., (Feb. 13, 2004) - Vigoro ®, a leading brand of premium lawn and garden products for over 80 years, along with The Home Depot ®, will be the primary sponsors of Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver J.J. Yeley during the 2004 season. Yeley will drive the #18 Vigoro/Home Depot Chevrolet Monte Carlo as part of an A-B-C schedule that will consist of ARCA, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races. His first race in the Vigoro/Home Depot machine will be the March 6 Sam's Town 300 Busch Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Vigoro is owned by St. Louis-based United Industries Corporation (which goes to market as Spectrum Brands) and is sold exclusively at Home Depot stores.

"Vigoro is a powerful brand in the lawn and garden category with a strong consumer following," said Kent Davies, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Spectrum Brands. "Our partnership with The Home Depot and Joe Gibbs Racing underscores our commitment to accelerate the successful development of the Vigoro brand with consumers utilizing this high-visibility sponsorship. We like to operate at a fast pace, and we will rally around this sponsorship as a platform for driving growth."

"On behalf of over 300,000 associates, The Home Depot is proud of its relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing and our partnership with Vigoro's line of lawn and garden products," said Steve Jansen, Merchandising Vice President, Home Depot Lawn & Garden. "This is an excellent opportunity to team up with a great young driver in J.J. Yeley."

A native of Phoenix, the 27-year-old Yeley joined JGR with an impressive list of credentials. In 2003, he became only the second driver in racing history to win the USAC Triple Crown by earning the Sprint, Midget and Silver Crown championships in a single season. En route to that milestone, Yeley earned a total of 24 USAC victories, easily surpassing the mark of 19 set by A.J. Foyt in 1961 and tied in 1988 by Sleepy Tripp and in 2000 by Jay Drake. And while amassing such a large win total, Yeley became the first driver in USAC history to win on pavement and dirt in all three national series in a single season.

"I'm extremely thankful to Joe Gibbs Racing for giving me this opportunity, and I'm just as thankful to have Vigoro and The Home Depot supporting my efforts," said Yeley. "The switch from open-wheel to stock cars is sure to be a challenge, but I'm definitely ready for it. We already had a great team in place, but now it's even better with Vigoro and Home Depot joining us. We have everything we need to be successful."

Heading Yeley's effort will be veteran crew chief Doug Hewitt, who after being a crew chief in the Cup Series since 1993, joined JGR in late 2001 as crew chief for Coy Gibbs in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Under Hewitt's guidance, Gibbs finished 10th in points in 2001 and 2002. Hewitt continued as crew chief for Gibbs' Busch Series effort in 2003, and he takes the team he helped build to Yeley's rookie campaign in 2004.

"This is a strong race team," said J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing. "Between J.J.'s skill, Doug's knowledge and Vigoro and Home Depot's backing, all of the necessary elements are in place for this team to succeed. Nothing comes easily in this sport, so in order to perform you have to be prepared. The support from Vigoro and Home Depot allows this team to be prepared everywhere they go."

Vigoro is the number two selling brand of lawn and garden fertilizers in the United States. Vigoro offers a full line of long lasting, fast acting premium performance fertilizers and control solutions for the lawn and garden that provide superior results to consumers at a value price. Spectrum Brands is the leading manufacturer and marketer of value-oriented products for the consumer lawn and garden care and insect control markets in the United States and offers one of the broadest lines in the industry under a variety of brand names. The company's household brands include Hot Shot , Cutter and Repel . The company's lawn and garden brands include Spectracide , Spectracide Triazicide , Spectracide Terminate , Garden Safe and Real-Kill in the controls category as well as Vigoro , Schultzâ"', Bandini and Best brands in the lawn and garden fertilizer and organic growing media categories.

Founded in 1978, The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer and the second largest retailer in the United States, with fiscal 2002 sales of $58.2 billion. The company employs approximately 300,000 associates and has 1,726 stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, eight Canadian provinces and Mexico. Its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

2004 Racing Schedule for the #18 Vigoro/Home Depot Chevrolet of Joe Gibbs Racing and Driver J.J. Yeley <pre> Date Race Venue Division March 6 Sam's Town 300 Las Vegas Motor Speedway Busch Series April 3 O'Reilly 300 Texas Motor Speedway Busch Series April 10 Pepsi 300 Nashville Superspeedway Busch Series May 1 1-800-PITSHOP.com 300 California Speedway Busch Series May 8 Busch Series 250 Gateway Intl. Raceway Busch Series May 14 Busch Series 250 Richmond Intl. Raceway Busch Series May 27 Charlotte ARCA 100 Charlotte Motor Speedway ARCA May 29 Carquest Auto Parts 300 Charlotte Motor Speedway Busch Series June 5 MBNA America 200 Dover Intl. Speedway Busch Series June 12 Federated Auto Parts 300 Nashville Superspeedway Busch Series June 19 The Meijer 300 Kentucky Speedway Busch Series July 10 Twister 300 Chicagoland Speedway Busch Series Aug. 21 Cabela's 250 Michigan Intl. Speedway Busch Series Aug. 27 Food City 250 Bristol Motor Speedway Busch Series Sept. 4 CaliforniaSpeedway.com 300 California Speedway Busch Series Sept. 10 Funai 250 Richmond Intl. Raceway Busch Series Sept. 25 Stacker 200 Dover Intl. Speedway Busch Series Oct. 9 Mr. Goodcents 300 Kansas Speedway Busch Series Oct. 31 Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway NEXTEL Cup Nov. 6 Basha's Supermarkets 200 Phoenix Intl. Raceway Busch Series Nov. 21 Ford 400 Homestead-Miami Speedway NEXTEL Cup

* Schedule subject to change.

-jgr-

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