NASCAR playoffs format change? Next driver eliminations? Podcast
The guys discuss Chase Elliott’s Kansas win, Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace’s dust-up and upcoming NASCAR playoff changes, both in 2025 and beyond.
- The company’s Sea Best brand sponsored Ty Dillon’s car for 20 races this season in a seven-figure deal.
- Frisch plans to sponsor fewer races next year to better focus on customer engagement opportunities.
- The sponsorship provides brand exposure and business-to-business networking opportunities at the track.
DAYTONA BEACH — One weekend at the track, one race and one walk along pit road and the garage area was all Mark Frisch needed to be sold on NASCAR.
Last year, Frisch, the executive vice president of the family-owned and -operated Beaver Street Fisheries in Jacksonville, explored putting their flagship brand, Sea Best, on a car. It was a one-race deal with Kaulig Racing and its No. 10 car at the Texas Motor Speedway event.
And …
“I got the bug,” Frisch said. “There is something about going to the race. I meet a lot of people who aren’t NASCAR fans, but are sports fans, and what I tell them is, ‘Come to a race and get an appreciation for the sport itself. It’s not just cars going in a circle.’ And then when you’re lucky enough to be in the garage and hauler, you get the bug. Texas was a big (bug) bite.”
Frisch turned that bite into a 20-race agreement this season and the last two races are at Charlotte (Oct. 5) and Phoenix (Nov. 2).
Driver Ty Dillon ranks 32nd in points and has five top-15 finishes in 31 starts. When I caught up with Frisch in late August, it was a Friday afternoon at the BSF headquarters in Jacksonville and the garage area at Daytona International Speedway.
Frisch and Kaulig Racing began talking in March 2024 for the one-race deal and by the fall, the 20-race agreement was finalized. Among the races to carry Sea Best on Dillon’s car were Darlington, Talladega, Chicago, Indianapolis and the summer Daytona race.
Seven-figure investment
NASCAR is dependent on corporate sponsors and most every car has a rotating set of companies on their hoods, roofs, back bumpers and quarter panels throughout the year. For example, on its website, Kaulig Racing lists 29 partners, and super-team Hendrick Motorsports lists 12 “primary” sponsors and 20 “secondary” partners.
Frisch said BSF’s investment was “seven figures,” for the 20 races.
So how did Frisch go from a one race to 20?
“I was looking for roughly half of the races and there are 36 and the deal worked out that way,” he said. “It’s probably a little too many to keep track of and execute. It was a good year to experiment and we’ll try and tighten it up next year.”
Frisch said BSF/Sea Best intend sponsor “probably fewer,” races in 2026 so they can greater utilize connection opportunities with customers, such as an on-site food truck to provide Sea Best samples.
Frisch knew where I was going when I asked about the financial commitment. How does he determine a return-on-investment?
“It’s a hard thing to measure,” he said. “Ty has had a lot of brand impressions and that’s been great for our company and our employees. You have to start somewhere and there is a lot of business at the track. There is a consuming branding component, but also business-to-business.”
To that end, Frisch works with Kaulig Racing to map out track preferences. Sea Best is concentrated in the southeast and east coast so that makes those races more attractive. This year, 11 of the 20 races Sea Best has its logos on the car are in those two areas of the country.
Frisch’s first involvement with sports was the Jacksonville Armada soccer team in 2015 when his Sunshine Soccer Group was awarded the expansion team and owned it until 2017.
Any correlation to NASCAR?
“I can certainly appreciate how tough it is on the business side of making things work and how important sponsorship is,” Frisch said. “I like to be a part of an underdog and what’s what I felt we were in the soccer world. (Kaulig Racing) is a great team with big aspirations.”
’Surreal’ to watch races
What makes a successful race for the No. 10 team in general and BSF/Sea Best in particular?
“Anytime there is good TV time,” Frisch said hours before Dillon had his car leading for nine laps at Daytona before finishing 22nd. “Ty has gotten a lot of that for sure. If he’s in the top half of the field, that’s very good.”
Frisch said he spends the race between watching from the No. 10’s pit box and strolling along pit road.
“Just networking: Who can I meet?” he said.
The day before the Daytona race, Frisch welcomed Dillon to the BSF headquarters for a meet-and-greet with company employees. Frisch moderated a question-and-answer session and Dillon took selfies with anybody interested.
“It’s so special,” Dillon said. “You see all of the faces behind the heartbeat of a race team. I’ll look at the Sea Best car and see all of these (employees) behind it.”
Said Frisch: “To have Ty meet our entire team and have them see the person behind the race car who drives our Sea Best car around the track, it lets them be a part of this. Ty resembles our company: Tenacious, gritty, going out and fighting hard every single weekend.”
The best part for Frisch, who hosted about 50 people at the Daytona race, is seeing another person get the NASCAR bug.
“It’s still surreal,” he said. “There are people who see it for the first time and when they mention that to me, it’s like I’m reliving (my first race) all over again. It’s amazing how far our company has come at BSF and our Sea Best brand has come to be able to do this. I never thought in a million years I would see our company on a NASCAR Cup Series car.”
Reach ohalloran at rohalloran@gannett.com
