OFFICE DEP : HuckleBerry Pets Crowned 2011 'Official Small Business of NASCAR®, Courtesy of Office Depot' Today at Atlanta Motor Speedway

Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, is pleased to announce that Kacie Howard, owner of HuckleBerry Pets in Daytona Beach, Fla., has been named the winner of this year's "Official Small Business of NASCAR®, Courtesy of Office Depot" sweepstakes. Office Depot, the Official Office Products Partner of NASCAR®, partnered with 3M for this national promotion, and Howard was one of two finalists.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala, featured the HuckleBerry Pets logo on his race car during today's rain-postponed NASCAR Sprint Cup Series? AdvoCare 500 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, while fellow driver Greg Biffle featured the small business logo of sweepstakes finalist Sara Mortensen, owner of Bales Mold Service, Inc., in Downers Grove, Ill., on his No. 16 3M Ford.

As the small business featured on the highest-finishing driver's car at the end of the race, Howard's HuckleBerry Pets was crowned the 2011 "Official Small Business of NASCAR®, Courtesy of Office Depot" and will receive the use of the "Official Small Business of NASCAR, Courtesy of Office Depot" logo for one year. Stewart finished the race third, while Biffle finished in 12th place.

"I'm on top of the world right now!" Howard said. "The 'Official Small Business of NASCAR, Courtesy of Office Depot' sweepstakes has been an incredible experience from the moment I found out that HuckleBerry Pets was selected as one of this year's finalists. I'm extremely grateful for everything Office Depot has done for me and for this amazing opportunity. And I can't thank Tony Stewart enough for his performance during today's race...what a finish!"

Howard and Mortensen were introduced as the sweepstakes finalists on September 2 during a press conference held at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Howard, 32, was randomly paired with Stewart, while Mortensen, 27, was matched with Biffle.

Both finalists received a $10,000 small business makeover from Office Depot and a VIP experience at Atlanta Motor Speedway. If Stewart or Biffle had won the race, the small business featured on the winning car would have taken home $1 million.

"I am so excited that I was able to help Kacie (Howard) become this year's 'Official Small Business of NASCAR, Courtesy of Office Depot' sweepstakes winner," said Stewart, who is a successful entrepreneur with 13 small businesses of his own. "Kacie is a great example of a small business owner who has worked hard to build her company from the ground up, and I am very proud to help Office Depot provide a deserving small business owner like Kacie with this kind of opportunity."

About The Winner: Kacie Howard, Owner of HuckleBerry Pets

Kacie Howard, an avid NASCAR® fan whose nine-year-old daughter was born on the day of the 2002 Daytona 500, started HuckleBerry Pets in July 2010 with her husband, Chris. The business specializes in manufacturing comfortable, stylish and durable pet beds using orthopedic mattresses that help support a pet's muscles and bone structure.

Howard learned about the "Official Small Business of NASCAR®, Courtesy of Office Depot" sweepstakes online at www.OfficeDepotRacing.com. After entering, Howard worked to obtain additional entries by asking friends and family to nominate her business. She plans to use the $10,000 Office Depot makeover to purchase computers, printers and other general supplies for her business.

Prize Package Overview

For Howard, the "Official Small Business of NASCAR, Courtesy of Office Depot" sweepstakes finalist prize package included the following:

• A $10,000 small business makeover from Office Depot
• Use of the "Official Small Business of NASCAR, Courtesy of Office Depot" logo for one year, including on company stationery materials (to be printed by the Copy & Print Depot at Office Depot)
• VIP race experience for two at the September 2-4 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series? race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway

Outside of the two finalists, Office Depot allowed even more small business owners to win big this year during the "Official Small Business of NASCAR, Courtesy of Office Depot" sweepstakes. Every day during the promotion window, which ran from May 1 through May 28, one lucky small business owner was randomly selected to receive a $1,000 Office Depot gift card and Officially Licensed NASCAR® memorabilia just for entering the sweepstakes.

About Office Depot

Celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides supplies and services to its customers through 1,627 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and global e-commerce operations. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $11.6 billion, and employs about 40,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office supplies and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 56 countries.

Office Depot's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com and http://socialpress.officedepot.com/.

About 3M

3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. Our culture of creative collaboration inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. With $27 billion in sales, 3M employs about 80,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 65 countries. For more information, visit www.3M.com or follow @3MNews on Twitter.

About NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for one of North America's premier sports. NASCAR races are broadcast in more than 150 countries and in 20 languages. In the U.S., races are broadcast on FOX, TNT, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2, SPEED and SiriusXM Satellite Radio. NASCAR fans are among the most brand loyal in all of sports, and as a result more Fortune 100 companies participate in NASCAR than any other sport. NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), four regional series, and one local grassroots series, as well as two international series. Also part of NASCAR is Grand-Am Road Racing, known for its competition on road courses with multiple classes of cars. NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races at 100 tracks in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., NASCAR has offices in eight cities across North America. For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.nascar.com. Follow NASCAR on www.facebook.com/NASCAR or on Twitter: @NASCAR.

Office Depot
Mindy Kramer, 561-438-4276
mindy.kramer@officedepot.com
or
Edelman
Jeff Stur, 312-240-2703
jeffrey.stur@edelman.com

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