Obaika Racing unveils primary Daytona sponsor, paint scheme

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Obaika Racing unveiled its Daytona 500 car and new sponsorship deal on Wednesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The first ever African-owned team plans to compete full-time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with driver Tanner Berryhill behind the wheel of the No. 97 Toyota Camry.

With primary sponsorship from WAVE Sports for Daytona, Obaika Racing has intentions of running the entire season, making Berryhill a Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender, with WAVE continuing to be associated throughout the season. VroomBrands will also continue its partnership with Obaika.

WAVE Sports will use this sponsorship opportunity to expand its content and collaborate with Obaika Racing and Berryhill throughout the season.

“I think the bigger picture here is about a younger audience that we represent, largely on social,” said Greg Bobolo, senior vice president of strategy and partnerships at WAVE Sports. “We love to work with teams, groups like Victor, like Obaika Racing, with a progressive attitude and a mentality towards growing their brand.”

Obaika and Berryhill will kick off the season by making their first attempt at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 17 at Daytona International Speedway in the matte black Toyota with crisp white lettering and defined yellow numbers on the side.

Berryhill, 25, is excited to finally have his chance at a Daytona 500 run but knows he’s not guaranteed a spot once he gets there.

“The Daytona 500 is where every young race car driver wants to get to at some point in their career. Being able to attempt the Daytona 500 has been a dream of mine ever since I started racing,” Berryhill said. “I just have to do my best to stay focused on driving and that’s my job at the end of the day, to do the best I can behind the wheel and where we end up is where we end up.”

Team owner Victor Obaika understands the importance of making the race and is already feeling the pressure as an owner heading into the 500 for the first time. He knows how difficult it’s going to be for the team to make the race but finds that the motivation comes from the extra pressure.

“It’s extremely important to make the 500, we want to make the 500, we need to make the 500. But, if we don’t make the 500, we’ll still be here,” he said.

Obaika Racing competed in 78 Xfinity Series races and three Monster Energy Series races. Now more than ever, they are hoping this season will bring a change to their growing program.

Dan Stillman has served as crew chief in 61 Cup races and will be atop the pit box for Berryhill and the No. 97 in 2019. Obaika and Stillman have a history with one another, as Stillman was Obaika Racing’s first crew chief.

There’s also a good chance the industry will see Obaika Racing compete in some of the other series throughout 2019.

“In a perfect world, I want to run everything,” Obaika said. “We do have Xfinity plans and we actually have a few other plans that are the lower series, like possibly doing a couple ARCA races, maybe some K&N races.

“The exciting part for me, particularly in 2015, was to give drivers opportunities.”

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