Crook NASCAR team owner drove Best Buy away

A Best Buy official says the legal troubles of Haas CNC Racing owner Gene Haas were one of several factors in the company's decision to move its sponsorship to Gillett Evernham Motorsports' No. 19 for the 2008 Sprint Cup Series.

"It was a variable, no doubt [about] it," said Brad Morrill, senior motorsports manager for Best Buy following the announcement that it would back the car driven by Elliott Sadler. "Any time you have something like that happen, you have to put that into your variable package.

"But it wasn't the final variable at all. … Many athletes get in trouble and companies still sponsor them."

"We were with Haas for three years, three really good years – they got us into this sport," Morrill said. "We had a good learning experience with those guys. We got to a point where we were at the end of our contract this year with them.

"As any good sponsor should, we wanted to check the market and we looked around and found this opportunity. Having Elliott with our brand and Ray [Evernham] with the performance on the track and the Gillett guys from the [business-to-business] side was just a strong package that we just focused that way."