Hesse made the announcement while presenting a $5.8 million winner's check to 2011 champion Tony Stewart.
"So, I could not be more pleased than to announce and celebrate tonight, that Sprint and NASCAR have agreed to an extension of our relationship, ensuring that through at least the 2016 season, every champion crowned will be a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion," Hesse said.
Sprint became the official title sponsor of the Cup Series in 2008 after the Sprint-Nextel merger was complete. Nextel became the title sponsor of the Cup Series in 2004 after Winston left the sport. The Nextel contract was set to expire at the end of the 2013 season.
Stewart is the only driver to have won championships with Winston, Nextel and Sprint as the title sponsors.
While the Sprint announcement is good news for the series, especially in light of the sponsorship struggles throughout the industry, it's probably bad news for NASCAR fans who want official NASCAR content on their phones but are not Sprint customers. Currently, the only official NASCAR mobile application with audio and other features is exclusive to Sprint and will likely remain that way for obvious reasons.
