AISIN AW, one of the leading manufacturers of automatic transmissions and automatic transmission components, will be the title sponsor of the No. 9 Germain/Arnold Racing Toyota Tundra NASCAR Craftsman Truck for the running of the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway Saturday April 9, 2005.

AISIN AW builds the heart of the transmission from the heart of North Carolina at their Durham, NC Facility. AW North Carolina, Inc. is a subsidiary of Aisin AW Co., Ltd., a major automatic transmission manufacturer in the world market located in Anjo City, Japan. AW North Carolina, Inc. is proud to be one of the leading manufacturers of automatic transmissions and components and produces transmissions and transmission components for Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Inc.  As the first North American production facility, AW North Carolina was established in Durham, NC, in November 1998.

Piloting the AISIN AW Tundra is Shige Hattori- the driver who made history for being the first Japanese driver to compete in a major NASCAR touring series race at Daytona International Speedway.

"I am looking forward to having AISIN AW on board as our primary sponsor for Martinsville," Shige Hattori said.  "They have a plant in Durham, North Carolina which is pretty close to Martinsville.  I look forward to meeting some of the employees that will be here to watch the race."

Hattori will have another career first when racing at Martinsville -the former IRL driver will race on his first short track.  Martinsville Speedway is a .623 mile paperclip shaped race track that not only challenges rookies like Hattori but will intimidate the best of veteran drivers.