The Renewal
Hardee's is extending its primary partnership with 23XI Racing and Bubba Wallace's No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE under a new multi-year agreement, parent company CKE Restaurants Holdings announced Oct. 8. The deal keeps Hardee's branding on the No. 23 car at select races and on team uniforms, equipment, and Wallace's firesuit throughout the full season.
The renewal builds on a debut year that, by Hardee's own account, delivered measurable lift. Bubba Wallace-themed digital offers inside the My Rewards loyalty program ranked among the brand's top performers, and social engagement ticked up across platforms. The chain also moved product through an LTO play — the Bubba Wallace Full Throttle Meal, built around its Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders and paired with a collectible No. 23 die-cast car — demonstrating that NASCAR-linked foodservice promotions can do real transactional work, not just impressions.
Loyalty at the Wheel
To mark the renewal, Hardee's is running a loyalty-gated promotion from Oct. 8 through Nov. 10: My Rewards members who spend $15 or more at participating locations can redeem a complimentary No. 23 collectible die-cast car. The timing is deliberate — Wallace's birthday falls on Oct. 8 and Hardee's carries primary branding on the No. 23 car that weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The offer is redeemable in the app, on order.hardees.com, or in-restaurant via app scan, keeping digital acquisition and basket-building squarely in focus.
For a QSR chain with more than 1,600 franchised and company-operated units across 31 states, the NASCAR platform offers a geographic fit worth noting. The sport's strongest markets — the Southeast, the Carolinas, the mid-Atlantic — overlap heavily with Hardee's core footprint. That alignment makes stadium-adjacent and drive-market c-store competitors in the QSR-adjacent foodservice lane worth watching; NASCAR weekends routinely spike forecourt traffic and grab-and-go demand at nearby convenience locations.
What It Means for Operators
Alisa Gmelich, President of Hardee's, framed the renewal around authenticity and fan community rather than pure reach metrics. Wallace echoed that positioning, pointing to Hardee's history in NASCAR as a factor in his continued commitment to the partnership.
For the broader quick-service and convenience foodservice channel, the Hardee's-23XI renewal is a reminder that sports sponsorship is increasingly being structured as a loyalty and traffic driver, not just a brand-awareness spend. Tying an LTO — a limited-time meal bundle with a collectible premium — to a loyalty redemption event converts passive fan sentiment into a trackable transaction. That mechanic is one any operator running a rewards program, from a regional chain to a single-store operator with a foodservice program, can study.
CKE's combined Carl's Jr. and Hardee's network spans more than 3,800 units across 44 states and more than 35 countries. The Hardee's-specific NASCAR relationship now includes both the 23XI primary partnership and a separate official NASCAR partner designation announced earlier in 2026 — giving the brand multiple on-property touchpoints throughout the race calendar.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
