Daytona Beach, Fla., has the history. It's the birthplace of NASCAR, home to company headquarters, site of the biggest stock car race of the season.

Charlotte has the race teams. The city is a virtual ground zero for the sport. Nearly every major team is headquartered there. Most of the sport's stars live there. The NASCAR Hall of Fame is being constructed there.

So where does Atlanta fit in NASCAR's scheme of things? Simple. Atlanta supplies the money that makes the sport go.

When NASCAR brings its three national touring series to Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, nine local corporations will be major players. These businesses spend millions of dollars each year sponsoring some of the sport's top teams and drivers.

Aaron's Sales and Lease, Arby's Restaurant Group, AT&T's wireless unit (formerly Cingular), Coca-Cola, Georgia Pacific, The Home Depot, NAPA, Newell Rubbermaid and UPS have hitched their marketing wagon to NASCAR, and each company believes the return is well worth the investment.

Drivers and crews often grimace over a season that stretches from February through November, but corporate America views the most grueling nationwide schedule in all of sports as an opportunity to peddle products and services.

"It's the nationwide reach of NASCAR," said UPS spokesperson Susan Rosenberg, whose company's logos appear on Dale Jarrett's No. 44 Toyota. "And it's the consistency of having it as a marketing platform 36 weeks a year."

That decal on the hood is not cheap. According to Wood Brothers/JTG Racing co-owner Tad Geschickter, primary sponsorships at the Cup level — NASCAR's top circuit — range from $12 million to $20 million on an annual basis. A full Busch Series deal ranges from $4 million to $6 million. A season-long truck sponsorship can be had for $2 million to $3 million.

Aaron's Sales and Lease sponsors a Busch Series car fielded by Michael Waltrip Racing and owns the naming rights to Talladega Superspeedway's Nextel Cup and Busch Series events in April.

According to Mark Rudnick, Aaron's vice president of marketing, the Joyce Julius report, which measures the impact of corporate sponsorship, reveals Aaron's is the recipient of a whopping "13 to 1 return on media dollars."

"There's really no other media that you can buy and get that return," Rudnick said.

NASCAR has been selling that idea for decades. Research shows that fans are three times as likely as non-fans to purchase sponsors' products and services. And they say that's why more Fortune 500 firms partipate in sponsorship deals in NASCAR than any other sport...