Subway drops Daniel Suarez NASCAR sponsorship and gives rather strange reason why

As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series makes its way to Darlington for their traditional throwback weekend, the NASCAR community is trying to figure out a rather intriguing mystery. With one race left (Talladega) on their deal with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Daniel Suarez, Subway announced they were immediately dropping Suarez and would no longer sponsor him.

But that wasn’t the strangest thing. Bob Pockrass of ESPN reported that Subway dropped Suarez “due to circumstances beyond our control.” At the same time, a spokesman for Gibbs said that Suarez didn’t violate any type of morals clause.

I’m not sure who’s telling the truth here and there’s a pretty good chance they’re both telling the truth, but it’s definite that those on the outside don’t have the complete story as to what actually happened. It’s obvious that this wasn’t a normal “we’re leaving to sponsor another car or another sport” issue. Otherwise, Subway would be sponsoring Suarez at Talladega and have a gradual breakup than it being so sudden this weekend.

If I had to guess, either one or two things had to happen. Either Subway saw something that Suarez did that they didn’t like and immediately terminated the deal or Subway were trying to look really hard to look for anything that could get them out of their contract with Suarez and Gibbs and whatever happened gave Subway their out.

Suarez himself only found out this past Friday and didn’t know what he might have done to cause a company, who seemingly were happy partnering with Suarez, to instantly pack up and leave. You would think that if it was a situation where Gibbs hired a Subway competitor that caused them to terminate the deal, Suarez would’ve been told. And even though Suarez wouldn’t have revealed that sponsor, he would have said something else than what he actually said had that been the case. It also doesn’t seem like Suarez did anything serious like break the law or anything so what could it be? People joked online that Suarez must have been seen eating Jimmy Johns or something. A theory posed by SportsBusiness Journal’s Adam Stern, may explain what might have happened.

In addition to potentially talking to other NASCAR teams, an NBC feature from New Hampshire in July showed Suarez holding a box of Dunkin Donuts. While fans aren’t going to connect Suarez as somehow endorsing Dunkin Donuts over Subway, that might very well give Subway their opportunity to get out of their deal.

Who knows if a slightly amusing feature from two months ago actually resulted in Suarez losing out on a sponsor but it seems like a stupid thing for Subway to do. By that logic, Brad Keselowski can only drink Miller beer because that’s who sponsors him. Jamie McMurray can only eat McDonald’s because they sponsor him. Dale Earnhardt Jr. can only drink Mountain Dew because they sponsor him. And while NASCAR drivers do a great job plugging their sponsors as much as possible, fans know that drivers are going to use products from companies who are vaguely similar and don’t sponsor them. Because Keselowski isn’t drinking and driving, McMurray isn’t 400 pounds and Dale Jr. doesn’t have diabetes. Subway could have just sponsored Suarez at Talladega and not renew their deal for next year but they for some reason decided to make a mess of it and everyone is seeing through their PR doublespeak.

As for Suarez, he still has sponsorships through Arris and Stanley Tools so while losing Subway hurts, Suarez is still in a better spot in regards to primary sponsorship than many other drivers on the NASCAR grid. In addition, Suarez is having a solid rookie season where he has gotten better and better and is very popular among Hispanic NASCAR fans and fans in his native Mexico. Given Suarez’s trajectory, he’ll be fine without Subway.

[UPDATE] Bob Pockrass of ESPN reported that Joe Gibbs Racing confirmed the theory and Suarez handing out Dunkin Donuts was the reason Subway terminated the deal.

[ESPN]