Scotts Miracle-Gro Not Renewing Roush Fenway NASCAR Deal

UPDATE The Ortho brand of Scotts Miracle-Gro will not return as primary sponsor of Greg Biffle's #16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford in 2016, the organization and team confirmed Friday. "We have enjoyed a long-standing and greatly productive working relationship with Ortho and the Scotts' brand," RFR President Steve Newmark said in a statement. "Over the course of the last decade they — at different times — have been able to successfully activate various marketing platforms through our partnership. They had great success activating around Greg and the No. 16 team and I think all of us enjoyed the 'What's Buggin' Biffle' promotion. However, their marketing strategy for '16 will take them in a different direction. We would of course welcome working with them again in the future and look forward to that possibility." NASCAR.com

Biffle loses Ortho backing

11/20/15 Scotts Miracle-Gro has confirmed to THE DAILY that its Ortho pest-control brand will not return next season as the primary sponsor of Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 16 Ford driven by Greg Biffle, and the brand will instead sit out the year as a NASCAR team sponsor writes Adam Stern of Sports Business Daly.

Scotts Dir of Marketing Promotions & Communications Chris Strunk in a statement said, “We evaluate our sponsorship portfolio on an annual basis and have decided not to renew our partnership agreement with Roush Fenway Racing. Roush Fenway and Greg Biffle have been terrific partners, and we wish them the best. We are extremely appreciative of their participation and support of the Ortho brand."

RFR declined comment. The brand this season sponsored about half of Biffle’s 36 Sprint Cup Series races, but will not be on the car for the Sunday’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Bleacher Report will be on the car). Ortho was one of the main brands to step in and fill the void when 3M left after a nearly 10-year relationship with Biffle, switching to Jeff Gordon’s No. 24. Prior to deploying its Ortho brand to the No. 16, the Ohio-based Scotts had sponsored other RFR cars from ’05-11.