Playing The NASCAR Name Game

December 6, 2007
By Rebecca Gladden

Rebecca Gladden

In 2007, the NASCAR Cup Series was called the Nextel Cup Series in reference to series sponsor Nextel. In 2008, the sponsor is changing to Sprint, and the series will be called the Sprint Cup Series.

In 2007, the Cup development series, for lack of a better term, was called the Busch series, again referring to its corporate sponsor, Anheuser-Busch. In 2008, new sponsor Nationwide Insurance takes over, and the series name will change to the Nationwide Series.

Now comes word that NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series, named for Sears' Craftsman brand since the series began in 1995, will be changing sponsors - and names - after the 2008 season. The search is on for a new truck series sponsor.

Despite the obvious questions about what these sponsor changes mean in terms of the sport's overall financial health, the name changes present some very real dilemmas.

Take the Cup series, which was known as the Winston Cup Series from the early 1970s until Nextel took over as sponsor in 2004. In order to avoid confusion and promote the new brand, it was recommended to teams, drivers and even the media that they no longer use the Winston Cup name. Drivers who won a title during the Winston years were then mistakenly referred to as Nextel Cup champions or, for the sake of simplicity, just plain Cup champions.

This awkward transition will be taking place again this year and next, as Nextel becomes Sprint, Busch becomes Nationwide, and Craftsman becomes a name as yet unknown.

Since there have only been four Nextel Cup champions (half of them Jimmie Johnson), they will no doubt morph into Sprint Cup champions by the time Speedweeks arrives in February.

There are other practical issues, too. Commonly used words and phrases have derived from series sponsor names. For example, full-time Cup drivers who race in the Busch series are often referred to as Buschwhackers. Now that Busch is departing the series, what will these drivers be called? Somehow, Nationwidewhackers doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

And then there are the abbreviations. It is common to use acronyms for the various series like NNCS (NASCAR Nextel Cup Series), NBS (NASCAR Busch Series), and NCTS (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series). I guess starting in February, we will be switching to NSCS and NNS for the Cup and Busch, um, Nationwide Series abbreviations, and something else in another year for the truck series.

This confusion also extends to the names of individual races and racetracks, which these days are increasingly named after big-money sponsors. Even a race with an iconic name like "The Brickyard" has become "The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard." The track we once simply called Charlotte is now Lowe's Motor Speedway.

In fairness, this awkward naming situation is not exclusive to NASCAR. In Arizona, for example, the new Arizona Cardinals football stadium located in Glendale was named for its corporate sponsor, the University of Phoenix. Many find this name misleading, since the stadium is not, in fact, in Phoenix. Likewise, the Arizona Diamondbacks play in a baseball stadium that was originally named Bank One Ballpark (BOB for short), but was changed to Chase Field when the Bank One Corporation merged with J.P. Morgan Chase & Company in 2004.

Getting back to NASCAR, it seems to me the simplest answer would be to give each series a permanent name which would be immediately followed by the sponsor name - for example, the NASCAR Cup Series by Sprint, or the NASCAR Truck Series by Company X. This method could also apply to races, like the Brickyard 400 by Allstate instead of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Such a solution would accomplish two things: It would provide a sense of continuity and make it much easier to adjust as corporate sponsors come and go (which they inevitably will), and it will preserve a few remnants of the sport's history - something that seems to be increasingly lost.

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The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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