Silly Season gets longer as sales continue to be larger

There might just come a time, in the not too distant future, where Silly Season in the Nextel Cup Series will begin at California ... in February.

Over the past 10 years, Silly Season's high-water mark has moved from as late as Charlotte in October to Charlotte in May, and there are plenty of reasons for this.

First, sponsorships and marketing initiatives have grown to the point where it takes several months to put all the pieces in place. Companies are ponying up $15-$20 million per season per car, and that's not chump change. If companies are switching teams, it takes time to undo the previous deal while at the same time getting the new deal done.

The real reason the annual dance of musical chairs is getting longer and longer is licensing and merchandise.

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. shocked the NASCAR world by announcing he was going to leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. for another team, the timing seemed odd. Why announce you're leaving in May, when there's still six months of racing?

So that the apparel and die-cast merchandise could be designed, approved and licensed in plenty of time for Christmas.

There were other factors in Earnhardt's decision to leave his father's company -- mainly his relationship with his stepmother and the feeling that he wasn't getting any younger in his chase for a championship. But you can bet that the marketing and merchandising timeline was at least in the top three reasons why the announcement had to be made so early.

All along, Earnhardt said that a decision on a contract extension with DEI had to be made by the end of May. Once the scenario played out, it was clear why that was: a short free-agency period would still leave plenty of time to get all the details worked out.

Most of the die-cast cars for which NASCAR is famous are manufactured elsewhere, mainly the Pacific Rim, China and Taiwan. Sponsorship with Hendrick's new team, whether it be Kellogg's, Budweiser or some other company, has yet to be announced, as has the number that Dale Jr. will carry.

Once those factors are known, the process can begin. Paint-scheme designs will be submitted, and the winning look will be transferred to plans bound for Asia. The order will be fulfilled and shipped back to the U.S. by slow boat.

If you noticed earlier this year, there were hardly any COT die-cast cars available when the COT made its debut at Bristol in April. The design of the car was late in getting approval by NASCAR, and that delayed the production approvals of the die-cast.

Oddly enough, Earnhardt's apparel did not take a nose dive when he announced he was leaving DEI and headed for Hendrick. In fact, it was reported that sales were brisk. That counters the previous trend registered when first Kurt Busch and then Jamie McMurray bolted their respective teams for Penske Racing and Roush Racing, respectively.

There is still the question of sponsorship for Junior. Budweiser has long been associated with Earnhardt, and there are contractual minefields to navigate before it is known where the King of Beers will wind up for 2008.

Should Bud elect to try and stay with Earnhardt, what of Hendrick's current sponsors for the No. 5, Kellogg's and Carquest? Still another question needs to be answered, it seems, which will require more time.

If you doubt that NASCAR is about big business, take a look at the following numbers from Forbes Magazine: Forbes estimates that the average NASCAR team is worth $120 million and average revenue was $84 million. The first figure represents a whopping 67-percent increase over 2006 numbers.

To give you an idea of what Earnhardt has traded up to, Hendrick Motorsports ranks second among all NASCAR teams with a value of $297 million and annual revenue of $163 million.

DEI, on the other hand, ranks sixth at $118 million and $96 million. That's a difference of, respectively, $179 million on the one hand and $67 million on the other. For comparison purposes, Roush topped the list at $316 million in value and $189 million in revenue, with one more team than Hendrick and two more than DEI.

Those numbers might help explain why several of the top team owners are clamoring to add teams for 2008. Currently, Roush leads the way with five teams, one of which he'll have to cut before 2010 to get down to NASCAR's four-team limit. Hendrick is the lone four-car operation, while Joe Gibbs Racing (third in value/revenue), Evernham Motorsports (fourth), Richard Childress Racing (fifth), Chip Ganassi Racing (eighth) and Michael Waltrip Racing (ninth) all have three-car teams.

Robert Yates Racing (seventh) and Penske Racing (10th) are both two-car teams. If any of those teams make a move to add cars, it should be soon, because of the timeline for getting everything up and running by February's 50th anniversary of the Daytona 500.