By From the Archives

Published: October 3, 2007

Chairman Brian France didn’t talk specifics, and said the deal came after “a very thorough process of trying to find the right partner, adding up what we think is important for the series and all the things that you would expect us to be thinking about.”
Exactly what would we expect NASCAR to be thinking about? Ponder things like sinking TV ratings and attendance, rising ticket prices, maybe an increasing sense of disconnect between the fans and their heroes behind the wheel, and it’s pretty easy to venture a guess as to what France and Co. were and are thinking about. Money, money and money.
Word is the sponsorship deal is worth $10-12 million a year, which reportedly is similar to what Anehuser-Busch had been paying. Not bad for a racing league that was once just a step or two from the short-track stock racers you can find at Volunteer Speedway, Wythe or Lonesome Pine Raceway. Not that anyone is pretending that the awkwardly-named Nationwide Series is any kind of minor-league system anymore. Anyone except the NASCAR big wigs, that is.
Nationwide’s representative at Wednesday’s announcement said the fact that Nextel Cup drivers who moonlight in Busch Cars - maybe NASCAR should have a contest to come up with a catchy new nickname to replace “Buschwhackers” - wasn’t a big deal to the sponsor. That’s no news flash, either. The suits aren’t likely to change much in the series, since more racing fans are likely to turn on their televisions to watch Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch drive on Saturday afternoons than Jason Keller, Danny O’Quinn and Scott Wimmer. Then again, wouldn’t 100,000 people be just as likely to pack Bristol Motor Speedway to watch less experienced drivers spin and wreck for 300 laps? Note the fact that while the drivers raved about BMS’ new surface after an alarmingly clean Sharpie 500, more than a few fans called the race “boring.“
If the death knell for the old Southern Tradition that was NASCAR hadn’t already sounded, the demise of the Busch sponsorhip ought to take care of it. Granted, the loss of alcohol and tobacco sponsors for the main series isn’t going to hurt anyone’s feelings, and we do still have the Hooters Pro Cup - unless they get a new sponsor and change that to the Bath & Body Works Pro Series.
As far as the Winston/Nextel Cup goes, that’s getting a new handle, too. From now on, call it the Sprint Cup, just don’t use an AT&T cell phone to do it. By the way, doesn’t “Sprint Cup” sound like something local drivers should be competing on dirt tracks for?