At right, that’s Gov. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) talking behind the podium with Nationwide driver Brett Rowe. They’re unveiling the Marshall University paint scheme for Herd Racing’s No. 75. (Catch the connection?)

Based on the AP story previewing the event, Herd Racing is as grass roots as it gets. There are no corporate sponsorships — Marshall allowed the use of its logos but isn’t paying for them — and Herd Racing is relying on the generosity of the public and alumni to defray the costs of racing this season.

Collegiate logos in NASCAR isn’t a new idea; Herd Racing goes about it in a much different way, but the idea itself has been done on and off for several years.

Sterling Marlin ran a University of Tennessee paint scheme in the Busch series several years ago. (A quick aside: I call it the Busch series because that’s what the name of the series was then; but that’s a blog for another day.) In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, each of the Cup cars had a small “VT” logo.

Marlin’s Tennessee was a one-and-done scheme that, if memory serves, he ran at Bristol. The Tech logo was a kind gesture from NASCAR to a healing university that ran for a full month until the series left Richmond.

The Marshall scheme apparently is permanent; if the team can find sponsorship that results in actual revenue, that may change. In that aspect, this plan is far from the norm.

But it’s surprising that schools don’t try more marketing with NASCAR, especially the schools in NASCAR’s fan base. Southern ACC and SEC East schools could get a nice windfall and not just from the exposure. Say a Nationwide driver runs a Crimson Tide scheme at Talladega; think about the potential boon in souvenir sales — even if that driver isn’t one the fans would normally cheer for.

The team gets a cut of sales, as does the university.

There’s a limited market for this sort of thing, however. By default, it would have to be a large university with a sizeable fan base that translates well to NASCAR; i.e., more North Carolina, less Oregon. And to maximize earnings, it would have to be run in a state where the university resides; how many Vols fans at a Bristol race would want to buy something adorned with a University of South Carolina logo?

And the scheme would almost have to be employed in the Nationwide series. There’s simply too much money in Cup sponsorship to “donate” for even one race; a one-race deal in Nationwide — or even the Truck series — is much more economical.

I’d like to see the Marshall scheme do well; that would make for a pretty neat story. But the reality of it that probably isn’t going to happen. The AP says that it took eight volunteers to build the car from the ground up; the mega-teams in Cup have that many full-time people on a pit crew that flies in the night before a race. The numbers are a bit more manageable in Nationwide, but not much.

It’ll be nice to track their progress, but they’ll have a difficult go of it. The Marshall car will have a difficult time running with the herd.

(Photo by Jeff Gentner/Associated Press)