Busch no longer sponsoring series after 2007
Anheuser-Busch will no longer serve as title sponsor of NASCAR's No. 2 series after 2007, Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal reports. Anheuser-Busch's contract with NASCAR for the NASCAR Busch Series comes to an end after 2007, and NASCAR officials say the cost to sponsor the series will go up.
Tony Ponturo, Anheuser-Busch's vice president of global media and sports marketing, told the SBJ that it was his company's decision to withdraw from the sponsorship. The company began sponsoring the series in 1982, when the series was called the NASCAR Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series. It was changed to the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series in 1984 and then the NASCAR Busch Series in 1995.
SBJ reports that industry sources are estimating the new sponsorship deal could be worth more than $30 million a year, which is three times what Anheuser-Busch is paying.
