Sponsor satisfied despite Jeff Burton's struggles

• Sprint Cup driver hasn't won in more than four years
• Sponsor also has multimillion-dollar deal with NASCAR Media Group
• Team owner Richard Childress works with sponsor to provide return on investment

On two dozen race days a year, Jeff Burton enters a Caterpillar hospitality tent and sizes up his chances for when the green flag falls a few hours later.

The Richard Childress Racing driver avoids rosy predictions even for a corporation whose multimillion-dollar largesse puts his team on the track.

"I just tell the truth," said Burton, who is ranked 19th in the standings with six top-10s in 32 starts. "Caterpillar wants me to walk in and say, 'We're going to win this race' because I believe it. They don't want me to walk in when we're 20th in practice and say it.

"Like every team, we want to perform for sponsors. But when you are having down times, it's very nice to have sponsors that understand ebbs and flows and aren't constantly tightening the vise. They'll downplay us not running well because their program works so well, but we know they want to win, and we want to win."

It's been more than four years, though, since Burton visited victory lane in a Caterpillar-emblazoned No. 31 Chevrolet, and this season marks the second in a row in which the South Boston, Va., native failed to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The downturn has dovetailed with a dearth of sponsorship in NASCAR's premier circuit, with three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart and NASCAR's most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. among the stars still vying to fill funding voids for next season in a sport where championship teams often budget $20 million per car.

But Burton's lack of success hasn't impacted the value of Caterpillar's sponsorship, said Greg Towles, the director of Caterpillar's racing programs. Caterpillar is in its fourth season with RCR, and is the primary sponsor for 24 of the 36 Cup events.

Seven years ago, the manufacturer of machinery and construction equipment began tracking the return on its NASCAR investment — based mostly off sales related to racing — and Towles said it's more than 15%, which is "a sufficient ROI (return on investment) that management is very comfortable with. We don't count a lot of TV exposure, though some might say it's more valuable, but we try to keep the calculations conservative to base it off revenue coming back to Caterpillar."

The company has a multimillion-dollar deal with NASCAR Media Group to provide power to the TV compounds at Sprint Cup tracks and has rental business with tracks for generators, lighting, forklifts and other equipment used during race weekends. It also has cross-branded with other RCR sponsors, such as Coca-Cola and General Mills (which put Caterpillar toy cars in 3 million cereal boxes).

Much of its NASCAR-related business still stems from race-day hospitality chalets and suites that can draw as many as 400 guests, with clientele ranging from buyers of used backhoes to executives responsible for purchasing tractor and truck fleets. More than 90% of its 53 North American dealers have used the program, and dealers in Latin America, Europe and Australia also have flown guests to races.

"Our goal with the race day hospitality is to create an experience, no matter what happens on track, that the dealers and customers can say they had a great day with Caterpillar," Towles said. "If your whole reason for being in NASCAR is to win races and make the Chase, it's a tough economic model to make it work. You really have to develop the platform so performance isn't the biggest driver in it. You have to look at this for the long-term. Sometimes people take too short-term a view of it."

For more than two decades, dating to when he fielded Chevys for six of Dale Earnhardt's seven championships, team owner Richard Childress said he has assigned marketing representatives to each of its primary sponsors to ensure the company's business objectives are met.

"I feel like that's my job," he said. "People say, 'You don't have a boss, but I have a lot of bosses. Every company that sponsors RCR, I feel I work for them. If I go before their board, I have to be able to say we got them an ROI."

Childress has dispatched his motor home across the country for use by sponsors at cook offs and golf tournaments and also has an 18,000-square-foot auditorium at the team's Welcome, N.C., headquarters and his nearby winery that RCR sponsors have used for employee functions and client entertainment.

Childress, whose team is in danger of its first winless season in three years (Kevin Harvick hasn't won since September 2011; Paul Menard since July 2011), will make about 250 sponsor appearances this season (compared to about 40 to 50 for his drivers).

"I take pride in making sure they get their money's worth," Childress said. "Every day is full. It's more important to do that when you're not having success on the racetrack.

"Everyone wants to be and loves a winner, but if you can help them win in their business model, that makes up for if you're not quite there on performance."