Arkansas

Arkansas Will Sponsor Tricon Garage, Jones in Friday’s Truck Series Race

Published

1 year ago

April 8, 2025

Arkansas Will Sponsor Tricon Garage, Jones in Friday’s Truck Series Race

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — As if the Arkansas Razorbacks brand wasn’t big enough nationally after first year coach John Calipari led the Hogs to a Sweet 16 and baseball’s No. 1 national ranking at the midway point, the school’s partnership with NASCAR might put it over the top.

Repping the U of A 🐗@BrandonJonesRac will team up with @UArkansas and the College of Engineering this weekend at Bristol! pic.twitter.com/dmS3dZflQC
— TRICON (@TRICONGarage) April 7, 2025

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team Tricon Garage is in its fourth season in the sport and will be sponsored by the University of Arkansas’s College of Engineering Friday, April 11 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Brandon Jones will make his second truck series start of the season in the Razorback sponsored rig.

Jones won the Xfinity series race at Darlington this past Saturday, breaking a 98-race winless streak in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing car. The 28-year-old currently ranks No. 7 in the Xfinity Series standings.

Brandon Jones breaks a 98-race drought with a win at Darlington!
The celebration says it all ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/t3hDylMgZB
— Taylor Kitchen (@_TaylorKitchen_) April 5, 2025

While the engineering school’s logo will be on the rear quarter-panels, an oversized Razorbacks logo will be in on the hood which is prime placement for the brand. This will be a one-off type of sponsorship for now, but several universities have been featured in the sport over the years.

Some of NASCAR’s iconic names such as Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have repped schools such as Liberty, Alabama, Texas A&M, Carson-Newman, Kentucky, Auburn, Appalachian State, Virginia Tech, East Carolina, Florida State, Louisville, Penn State and South Carolina due to NASCAR’s partnership with Learfield.

NASCAR has ventured into the NIL realm in recent seasons to help with market different races. Former Costal Carolina quarterback Grayson McCall was featured at Darlington a few years back, while popular LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne helped promote the Xfinity event in Nashville in 2023.

Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers Olivia Dunne during the meet against the Georgia Bulldogs at Maravich Center. / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The average cost to be a primary sponsor for a truck series team can range between $25,000 to $100,000 per race depending on the team. Times are much different in the sport compared to years past when each team would have the same company sponsor for the entirety of a season.

Arkansas’ decision to sponsor Jones’ team was a strategic one as Bristol is one of the top races on NASCAR’s calendar each season. It’s very likely the Razorback logo will be seen by many as the truck race at Bristol can draw 800,000 to 1.2 million fans based off recent years.

Should Jones win or be competitive toward the front Friday night, the University of Arkansas could see it as a lucrative deal and seek sponsorship again. The Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol will begin at 6:30 p.m. and broadcast live on FS1.

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Arkansas

Arkansas Governor joins national A.I. workforce initiative

Published

4 hours ago

June 25, 2026

Press Room

Arkansas Governor joins national A.I. workforce initiative

LITTLE ROCK, AR (KATV) — Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has joined a new national artificial intelligence initiative that launched Thursday, June 25.

RAISE US, started by former Governor Eric Holcomb of Indiana and Gina Raimondo, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce is a nonpartisan national organization that will partner with governors, employers, workers and training organizations to help the workforce transition to an AI economy.

“As artificial intelligence transforms America’s economy, we have one clear message: technology should empower people, not replace them. By leveraging our Arkansas LAUNCH initiative, and with the resources and expertise provided by RAISE US, Arkansas will turn that mission into reality. We want the Natural State to be a leader on education, workforce training, and up-skilling, and this new partnership gives us the tools we need to build a model for the entire nation.”

The organization will design and pilot incentives to retrain workers, new approaches to support job transitions, and training models tied to employer demand.

RAISE US launches with more than two dozen American companies and philanthropies and initial state partnerships in Connecticut, Maryland and Utah.

“America has a technology strategy for leading the global AI competition. It does not yet have a people strategy — and we cannot lead without one,” Raimondo, who will serve as CEO of RAISE US, said.

“If we build the best AI systems in the world and leave millions of Americans behind, we won’t have won anything; we’ll have automated our own decline. I believe AI will create new jobs and industries over time, but the transition could be disruptive, and it’s already underway. We shouldn’t fearmonger, but we can’t pretend our training and worker support systems are ready either. It’s time for innovative and practical solutions. This moment demands ambition, urgency, and creativity. We’ve assembled the country’s top companies, best economists, and bipartisan governors at a scale rarely seen — all to advance new ideas and incentives, pilot them with governors and business, and scale what works.”

Governor Sanders is partnering with RAISE US to support Arkansas LAUNCH, an AI-powered career navigation platform that connects students and jobseekers to personalized learning and employer-linked career pathways.

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