Month: January 2026

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — NASCAR today announced that Hardee’s, the iconic American quick-service restaurant brand, is returning to the sport in a major way as the Official Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) of NASCAR. In addition to the multiyear agreement, Hardee’s also will join 23XI Racing as a primary partner with Bubba Wallace and the No. 23 team, marking one of the most significant comebacks of a heritage brand in recent NASCAR history. Throughout the season, Wallace will drive the No. 23 Hardee’s car at several races, starting in Martinsville, and Hardee’s branding will be included all season on the No. 23 team’s uniforms and equipment and Wallace’s firesuit.

For decades, Hardee’s has been interwoven with NASCAR’s fabric, having sponsored some of the sport’s most legendary names and moments. During the 1980s and 1990s, Hardee’s-backed entries achieved 12 NASCAR Cup Series victories, driven by Hall of Famers including Bobby Allison (1981), Cale Yarborough (1983–1988), Alan Kulwicki (1985), and Dale Jarrett (1988–1989). Allison captured three wins—including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 — in the famed No. 28 Hardee’s car in 1981. Yarborough went on to secure nine victories with Hardee’s, including back-to-back Daytona 500 titles in 1983 and 1984, cementing the brand’s place in NASCAR history.

Now, Hardee’s returns at a moment of remarkable momentum for the sport, joining a growing list of iconic Americana brands choosing NASCAR as a platform to reach millions of passionate fans.

“Hardee’s is an American classic with deep roots in our sport, and its return represents more than a new partnership — it symbolizes the power and appeal of NASCAR’s heritage,” said Craig Stimmel, NASCAR Chief Commercial Officer. “As more legacy brands look to NASCAR to connect with loyal, multigenerational fanbases, Hardee’s stands out as a partner that understands the passion, tradition, and energy that fuel our community. We’re thrilled to welcome them back in such a significant way.”

As part of the agreement, Hardee’s will activate across key NASCAR events, engage fans through unique experiences via its My Rewards™ loyalty program, and collaborate with 23XI Racing and Wallace across digital, social, and community-driven campaigns.

For Wallace — who is coming off one of his best seasons to date — the partnership carries special meaning.

“NASCAR is built on legacy, and Hardee’s has been part of some of the most iconic moments in our sport’s history,” said Bubba Wallace, driver of the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE. “To bring that history forward with 23XI is really special and we’re looking forward to representing a brand that means so much to NASCAR’s story. Fans know the Hardee’s paint schemes of the past, and I’m excited to help create some new memories for longtime and newer fans.”

Hardee’s will leverage the partnership to deepen engagement with its customers and NASCAR’s millions of fans nationwide, celebrating the sport’s history while fueling its future. The collaboration was facilitated by Hardee’s media agency, PMG, which helped orchestrate the strategic deal. Together, NASCAR, 23XI and Hardee’s will roll out a series of integrated marketing initiatives throughout the season.

Get the latest news and exclusive app offers by downloading the Hardee’s app and joining My Rewards, available here.

About Hardee’s
Hardee’s, owned by CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. based in Franklin, Tennessee, is known for premium and innovative menu items such as charbroiled burgers, Made from Scratch™ Biscuits and Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders™. For 65 years, Hardee’s has been bringing people together with classic flavors and homestyle comfort food. Hardee’s Restaurants LLC has over 1,600 franchised or company-operated restaurants in 31 states. For more information about Hardee’s, please visit www.hardees.com.

About CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc.
CKE, a privately held company based in Franklin, Tennessee, franchises, owns and operates Carl’s Jr.® and Hardee’s® restaurants, two beloved brands, known for premium and innovative menu items such as iconic charbroiled Burgers, Made from Scratch™ Biscuits and Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders™. With both a U.S. and international footprint, Carl’s Jr. Restaurants LLC and Hardee’s Restaurants LLC have more than 3,800 franchised or company-operated restaurants in 44 states and more than 35 foreign countries and U.S. territories. For more information about CKE, please visit www.ckr.com or its brand sites at www.carlsjr.com and www.hardees.com.

About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 14 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR sanctions races in three national series (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series™, and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series™), four international series (NASCAR Brasil Series, NASCAR Canada Series, NASCAR Euro Series, NASCAR Mexico Series), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour) and a local grassroots series (NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series). The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in five cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races annually in 11 countries and more than 30 U.S. states.

For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X and Facebook.

About 23XI Racing
23XI Racing – pronounced twenty-three eleven – was founded by NBA legend Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin in 2020. With rising NASCAR star Bubba Wallace selected to drive the No. 23 Toyota Camry, the team made its NASCAR Cup Series debut in the 2021 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Wallace made history on October 4, 2021, when he captured his first career Cup Series win, becoming just the second African American to win in the Cup Series, and earning 23XI its first-ever victory. 23XI expanded to a two-car organization in 2022 with Cup Series Champion and Hall of Famer Kurt Busch driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry. With a win at Kansas Speedway in May of 2022, Busch earned 23XI the team’s first-ever playoff berth. Tyler Reddick joined the team in 2023 to drive the No. 45 car. In 2024, Reddick won the Regular Season Championship and raced to a spot in the Championship 4, a first for both the team and Reddick. 23XI currently features the lineup of Bubba Wallace in the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE, Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 Toyota Camry XSE and Riley Herbst in the No. 35 Toyota Camry XSE. Corey Heim currently serves as the team’s development driver and races occasionally in the No. 67 Toyota Camry XSE. The team operates out of Airspeed, a state-of-the-art facility in Huntersville, N.C.

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SOURCE CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Jan. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — mPower Technology, Inc., the leader in flexible solar power for space, today announced the appointment of four senior executives to its leadership team. These hires follow a period of significant momentum for the company, including the launch of the world’s first automated, high-volume space solar production line and a strategic investment from Lockheed Martin Ventures—positioning mPower to scale manufacturing, expand commercial adoption, and support mission-critical space programs.

New leadership appointments:

Scott Hughes, Chief Financial Officer
Scott Hughes is a seasoned finance and operations executive with deep experience supporting technology companies through growth, commercialization, and operational scale. Prior to joining mPower, Hughes served as CFO and COO of Totum Labs, where he led financial strategy, operations, and organizational growth for a venture-backed technology company.

Earlier in his career, Hughes was Chief Financial Officer at Ostendo Technologies, overseeing financial operations during a critical period of product development and commercialization. At mPower, Hughes will guide financial planning, capital strategy, reporting, and operational finance to support continued production scale-up and long-term growth.

James Heller, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)
James Heller is a proven founder-operator and commercial leader with a track record of building categories and scaling revenue. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Wrapify, where he spent a decade building the company into a market-defining media platform. Under his leadership, Wrapify raised $10.3 million in funding, generated more than $45 million in media sales, developed patented media measurement technology, and sold to 25% of the top 100 U.S. brand advertisers, including five of the top ten. Wrapify was successfully acquired by Wrapmate in 2023.

At mPower, Heller will lead commercial strategy, partnerships, and go-to-market execution to accelerate adoption of DragonSCALES™ across commercial, civil, and national security space markets.

Jeff Cyran, Vice President of Supply Chain
Jeff Cyran brings more than 25 years of global supply chain and operations leadership across high-volume, quality-critical manufacturing environments. Most recently, Jeff served as Vice President of Supply Chain at SunPower Corporation, where he led the company’s end-to-end supply chain organization, overseeing procurement, logistics, demand planning, customer fulfillment, reverse logistics, and supplier contract negotiations. His responsibilities included EBITDA generation, inventory-driven cash-flow optimization, and cost reduction across a globally distributed team in the U.S. and Philippines.

Prior to SunPower, Cyran held senior leadership roles at Amazon, including Head of Quality Assurance for Amazon Private Brands, where he was responsible for product and factory quality across more than 500 vendors and 20,000 consumer products worldwide. At mPower, Cyran will lead supply chain strategy and operational execution as the company scales high-volume DragonSCALES™ manufacturing.

Adriel Carreño, Vice President of Business Development
Adriel Carreño brings deep space-industry business development and engineering experience to mPower. He most recently served as Vice President of Business Development at Spectrolab, a Boeing subsidiary and global leader in high-efficiency space solar cells, where he led strategic growth initiatives and customer engagement for advanced solar products. Prior to that role, Carreño spent more than five years as Director of Solar Products Business Development at Spectrolab, driving market expansion and program growth.

Earlier in his career, Carreño worked as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer at The Boeing Company, giving him a strong technical foundation in spacecraft design and mission requirements. At mPower, Carreño will lead business development efforts aligned with commercial, civil, and national security space priorities.

“2025 marked a pivotal year for mPower from industrializing our manufacturing footprint to securing strategic capital that validates the vision behind DragonSCALES™,” said Kevin Hell, President & CEO of mPower. “These leadership appointments bring the expertise we need to scale operations and commercial impact as we enter the next phase of delivering resilient, high-performance space power solutions.”

About mPower Technology

mPower Technology is reshaping the future of space solar with DragonSCALES™. Designed for mass production using standard silicon PV processes, DragonSCALES delivers high-performance, scalable solar power for spacecraft of all types. Learn more at https://mpowertech.com/ or follow us on LinkedIn, X, and Facebook.

Media contact:
Natalie Rizk
natalier@theriotmind.agency
505-252-4279

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mpower-bolsters-leadership-as-demand-for-space-based-solar-power-accelerates-302667005.html

SOURCE mPower Technology

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Jan. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — mPower Technology, Inc., the leader in flexible solar power for space, today announced the appointment of four senior executives to its leadership team. These hires follow a period of significant momentum for the company, including the launch of the world’s first automated, high-volume space solar production line and a strategic investment from Lockheed Martin Ventures—positioning mPower to scale manufacturing, expand commercial adoption, and support mission-critical space programs.

New leadership appointments:

Scott Hughes, Chief Financial Officer
Scott Hughes is a seasoned finance and operations executive with deep experience supporting technology companies through growth, commercialization, and operational scale. Prior to joining mPower, Hughes served as CFO and COO of Totum Labs, where he led financial strategy, operations, and organizational growth for a venture-backed technology company.

Earlier in his career, Hughes was Chief Financial Officer at Ostendo Technologies, overseeing financial operations during a critical period of product development and commercialization. At mPower, Hughes will guide financial planning, capital strategy, reporting, and operational finance to support continued production scale-up and long-term growth.

James Heller, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)
James Heller is a proven founder-operator and commercial leader with a track record of building categories and scaling revenue. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Wrapify, where he spent a decade building the company into a market-defining media platform. Under his leadership, Wrapify raised $10.3 million in funding, generated more than $45 million in media sales, developed patented media measurement technology, and sold to 25% of the top 100 U.S. brand advertisers, including five of the top ten. Wrapify was successfully acquired by Wrapmate in 2023.

At mPower, Heller will lead commercial strategy, partnerships, and go-to-market execution to accelerate adoption of DragonSCALES™ across commercial, civil, and national security space markets.

Jeff Cyran, Vice President of Supply Chain
Jeff Cyran brings more than 25 years of global supply chain and operations leadership across high-volume, quality-critical manufacturing environments. Most recently, Jeff served as Vice President of Supply Chain at SunPower Corporation, where he led the company’s end-to-end supply chain organization, overseeing procurement, logistics, demand planning, customer fulfillment, reverse logistics, and supplier contract negotiations. His responsibilities included EBITDA generation, inventory-driven cash-flow optimization, and cost reduction across a globally distributed team in the U.S. and Philippines.

Prior to SunPower, Cyran held senior leadership roles at Amazon, including Head of Quality Assurance for Amazon Private Brands, where he was responsible for product and factory quality across more than 500 vendors and 20,000 consumer products worldwide. At mPower, Cyran will lead supply chain strategy and operational execution as the company scales high-volume DragonSCALES™ manufacturing.

Adriel Carreño, Vice President of Business Development
Adriel Carreño brings deep space-industry business development and engineering experience to mPower. He most recently served as Vice President of Business Development at Spectrolab, a Boeing subsidiary and global leader in high-efficiency space solar cells, where he led strategic growth initiatives and customer engagement for advanced solar products. Prior to that role, Carreño spent more than five years as Director of Solar Products Business Development at Spectrolab, driving market expansion and program growth.

Earlier in his career, Carreño worked as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer at The Boeing Company, giving him a strong technical foundation in spacecraft design and mission requirements. At mPower, Carreño will lead business development efforts aligned with commercial, civil, and national security space priorities.

“2025 marked a pivotal year for mPower from industrializing our manufacturing footprint to securing strategic capital that validates the vision behind DragonSCALES™,” said Kevin Hell, President & CEO of mPower. “These leadership appointments bring the expertise we need to scale operations and commercial impact as we enter the next phase of delivering resilient, high-performance space power solutions.”

About mPower Technology

mPower Technology is reshaping the future of space solar with DragonSCALES™. Designed for mass production using standard silicon PV processes, DragonSCALES delivers high-performance, scalable solar power for spacecraft of all types. Learn more at https://mpowertech.com/ or follow us on LinkedIn, X, and Facebook.

Media contact:
Natalie Rizk
natalier@theriotmind.agency
505-252-4279

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mpower-bolsters-leadership-as-demand-for-space-based-solar-power-accelerates-302667005.html

SOURCE mPower Technology