DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR announced Monday that Craig Stimmel has been hired to lead all sales efforts for the sanctioning body as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.
In this role, Stimmel will oversee all sales aspects for NASCAR, including premier partner and official partner categories, race entitlements, track partnerships and media sales across owned channels such as Motor Racing Network (MRN) and NASCAR Digital Media. He will also work closely with NASCAR’s media partners, teams, and non-NASCAR tracks to cultivate commercial opportunities across the entire NASCAR ecosystem.
Stimmel comes to NASCAR with a wealth of experience from the property, media and consumer side of the business, having led global sales & partnerships for the WWE and a similar role at Snapchat. Prior to that, he also held a leadership role on the brand marketing side at Procter & Gamble. Most recently, Stimmel was Senior Vice President of Commercial for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
“Craig’s proven track record of driving results and building billion-dollar brands in a multi-faceted environment like ours was one of several reasons why we felt he was an excellent fit for this role,” said Brian Herbst, NASCAR Executive Vice President, Chief Media and Revenue Officer. “NASCAR has the most brand-loyal fans and many of the most recognized sponsorships in professional sports, and Craig brings all the acumen to build upon our roster of tremendous partners and continue to deepen the engagement with our fans.”
“In recent years, NASCAR has taken some impressive and successful steps to grow the sport, authentically tell the brand story and build momentum for the future,” said Stimmel. “When you combine those factors with all the ways small and large brands alike can engage fans, new customers or new partners, it makes this opportunity extremely desirable, and I’m eager to continue building on the foundation already in place.”
Stimmel, who officially begins the new role today, will be based in NASCAR’s New York office and will manage employees across more than 20 office and race-track locations across the country. He will report to EVP, Chief Media & Revenue Officer, Brian Herbst.