With the 2023 NASCAR and F1 seasons having recently roared back into gear, tire brands are again taking center stage at the race track. In the last 12 months there have been more than 125 tire brands buying sponsorships or media across all properties, averaging 6 sponsorship deals each. Twenty-six percent of all tire brands with at least 1 sponsorship or media deal have a partnership with a motorsports property.

Continental ranks first by sponsorship volume with 102 deals, including partnerships with the Tour de France and MLS, among others. Bridgestone follows as a relatively distant second with 70 partnerships, while Michelin is third with 47 deals. Pirelli Tire, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Hankook, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT), Toyo Tires, and Nexen Tire round out the top 10 brands, in that order.

Social posts lead the list of most frequently bought assets. Toyo Tires’ branded Instagram post with UFC, welcoming Khabib Nurmagomedov to the UFC Hall of Fame, scored the most engagement, while the partnership between the International Cricket Council and MRF Tyres performed best among social campaigns, engaging 13.2M across 521 total posts. Property entitlements, digital content, TV-visible signage, and brand exposure are other assets popular with tire makers.

Among Italy’s most storied companies, Pirelli Tire has been a motorsport mainstay since 1907, and the exclusive global official tyre partner of the FIA Formula One World Championship since 2011, having inked a one-year extension with F1 last year.

With one of the longest-running relationships in racing history, dating back to 1954, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and NASCAR announced a new multi-year agreement last December, renewing Goodyear as the exclusive tire supplier for NASCAR’s top three national series.