Big Tobacco and racing went hand in hand throughout the 20th century. Motorsports fans in the United States and abroad associated their favorite drivers with the schemes they ran, which often sported the colors of cigarette and snuff companies. NASCAR’s top-tier championship was even named the Winston Cup Series, for cryin’ out loud. That all changed not long after entering the new millennium, as the FIA banned tobacco advertising from Formula 1 in 2006, and NASCAR followed suit in 2010.
Tobacco may be long gone from racing, but we’re seeing nicotine make a comeback to tracks and broadcasts alike. This time, companies aren’t pushing cigarettes or loose-leaf chew; instead, the same corporations that spent billions to keep people hooked on smokes and dip are hawking pouches targeted at the sport’s primarily male demographic.
On Thursday, NASCAR announced Grizzly Nicotine Pouches as its newest official partner. This relationship also awards Grizzly the naming rights for all NASCAR-owned track campgrounds. It’s a development from Grizzly’s involvement in NASCAR last year, as it was the primary sponsor for Kaulig Racing’s No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Ty Dillon. The company also supported driver AJ Allmendinger in the past.
“As an Official Partner, Grizzly Nicotine Pouches will have a presence across NASCAR-owned track campgrounds, creating opportunities to interact with adult fans in relaxed, social settings that are core to NASCAR culture,” a press release reads. “The partnership reflects NASCAR’s commitment to working with brands that value authenticity and want to engage fans on their terms—where they celebrate, connect, and build lifelong memories.”
If you keep up with stock car racing, then you’ll know Grizzly isn’t alone. Zone, another nicotine pouch company, backed Kyle Busch in Richard Childress Racing’s No. 8 Chevrolet last year and just re-upped its support for 2026. In addition to being Busch’s primary sponsor at select races, Zone hosts marketing activations at tracks catered to “adult nicotine users.”
This is no accident. On NASCAR’s part, it can be seen as a push to reach younger viewers, one that also includes broadcasting deals with streaming companies like Prime Video. An Ohio State University study found that more than 15% of the school’s undergrad students had used nicotine pouches before; in fraternities, that number was far higher at more than 41%. This is reflective of the products’ meteoric rise in popularity, as the Centers for Disease Control reports that sales increased from 126 million pouches in August 2019 to 808 million in March 2022.
Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of Grizzly Nicotine Pouches or Zone before now; you’re almost certainly familiar with their parent companies. Reynolds American owns Grizzly, as well as other brands like the vape company Vuse and “combustible” brands Newport, Natural American Spirit, Camel, Pall Mall, and Lucky Strike. Meanwhile, ITG Brands owns Zone, in addition to Blu, Kool, and Winston, the former title sponsor of NASCAR’s Cup Series.
These are familiar tactics that we’ve seen elsewhere in motorsports. For example, Philip Morris International continues to sponsor Ferrari’s F1 team even though it can’t advertise Marlboro cigarettes directly. Instead, PMI has employed workarounds like the infamous barcode livery in 2007, as well as Mission Winnow, a nothingburger initiative whose logos were displayed on Ferrari F1 cars from 2018 to 2021.
Really, Big Tobacco never left racing. It’s only taken different forms to please the regulators.
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com