PNC Bank has signed a sponsorship deal with NASCAR to build national awareness of the Pittsburgh-based company, but they'll have to work to stand out among the hundreds of sponsors and logos that whiz around the average race track, experts say.

PNC announced Friday that they'd reached a five-year deal to make the bank the “official bank of NASCAR” and “official wealth management partner” for the racing league, the bank's first leaguewide sponsorship, said Terry Begley, executive vice president of corporate banking.

NASCAR's races and core audience cover areas of the country where PNC is growing or plans to grow, even in places where it does not have retail branches, Begley said.

Begley declined to disclose the terms of the partnership, but said it would give PNC “VIP access” at races across the country to court potential clients. The bank will also become the league's primary provider of banking services.

The bank also saw overlap between what Begley called its “Main Street” values and the values of NASCAR and its fans.

“What's remarkable about NASCAR is their brand loyalty; people have drivers and even sponsors they're very loyal to,” said Dae Hee Kwak, an associate professor at the University of Michigan and director of its Center for Sport Marketing Research.

But in a sport where company logos are everywhere, PNC may need to spend big or work hard to stand out and catch potential customers' attention, he said.

Read the full article in the Pittsburgh Tribune by Mathew Santoni here: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/13456918-74/nascar-sponsorship-gives-pnc-exposure-in-new-markets-vip-access-to-court