Nationwide is on his side: Dale Jr. lands new sponsor

Nationwide Insurance, which will drop title sponsorship of NASCAR'€™s No. 2 series after this year, has found a new home in the sport: The insurance and financial services organization will sponsor Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the next three years.

Under a deal announced by the team Friday morning, Nationwide will be Earnhardt's primary sponsor for 12 Sprint Cup races in 2015 and 13 events in both 2016 and 2017. It will be an associate sponsor on the No. 88 in all other Cup races over the next three seasons.

Earnhardt, 39, is a two-time Nationwide Series champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner. He is currently fifth in the Sprint Cup points standings.

"I've always enjoyed working with Nationwide and really believe in their products and services," said Earnhardt, who has been featured in Nationwide ads since 2009. "It'll be fun to work with them in a new way, and I know everyone on the team is looking forward to the partnership. They've invested in our sport and built a strong reputation with NASCAR fans, and this opens up doors to do even more great things."