A Winston Cup car was never a Winston car, and a Nextel Cup car isn't a Nextel car. It's a Cup car, plain and simple, the sponsor conveniently dropped. People don't call 'em Craftsman trucks ... they're just trucks.

For years, however, Busch -- or in the early days, Busch Grand National -- cars have been taking to the track as NASCAR's premier support division. It just sounded right. Anheuser-Busch's famed Budweiser brand backed the division in the first two years of its existence, and ever since, Busch drivers have raced Busch cars in the Busch Series.

Until now.

By the Numbers

After 803 races and 26 years, it all comes to an end Saturday at Homestead when the final race of Busch's series sponsorship is run, ending an era.

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Saturday's Ford 300 at Homestead will be the last race for Anheuser-Busch's title sponsorship of the series. Nationwide will take over in 2008. It'll take a while ... no, check that, it'll take a very long time to get used to the idea of referring to NASCAR's so-called No. 2 touring division as the Nationwide Series.

For years, baseball has had its bush leagues and racing has had its Busch Series. No more.

"Our beer brands have truly become synonymous with NASCAR," said Tony Ponturo, vice president, global media and sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch. "The product awareness the Busch Series has generated for us is a testament to that, but it didn't happen overnight. It took time to build that equity among race fans, for it to become part of the vernacular and for the sport to grow to the levels of popularity it has achieved.

"Successful sponsorships are ultimately defined by the connection brands are able to make with the fans. That's been our focus in NASCAR, and with regard to the Busch Series, I think you'd be hard-pressed to refute the mutual benefits both sides have been able to extract. When this relationship began 26 years ago, both Busch Beer and NASCAR were somewhat regional brands. Together, both became national brands."

It's that growth, Ponturo continues, that has been Anheuser-Busch's proudest accomplishment in the sport.

"It's less about a moment in time and more about what the Busch Series has become," Ponturo said. "It's the second-most popular series in motorsports behind the Cup Series. While due credit goes to NASCAR and the people who make the series go, we'd like to think we played a role in making it more visible and attracting new fans.

"Beyond the business success, we've certainly enjoyed watching young, talented drivers use the Busch Series as a springboard to successful careers in the Cup Series. But even more than that are the relationships we've developed along the way with drivers, crews, owners, officials and the series' incredible fans. It's the tremendous passion all parties bring to the table that have made the Busch Series into the great success story it is today, and it's been our privilege to be along for the ride."

So why mess with such a good thing? Why end a title sponsorship that has literally become synonymous with the series it backs? It all came down, Ponturo said, to a "desire to realign the whole of our NASCAR focus on Budweiser." Anheuser-Busch will instead concentrate its energies on its program with Gillett Evernham Motorsports and star driver Kasey Kahne.

Really, the departure of the Busch brand is only the latest in a succession of major changes that the series has experienced in recent years. It should be noted here that the Busch Series in which Jack Ingram and Sam Ard raced -- heck, the Busch Series in which Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth raced full time -- no longer exists.

For better or worse, the Busch Series once had a rich tradition that consisted of independent teams with veteran series stalwarts like Ard, Ingram, Tommy Houston and any number of others racing ever so often against those from the Cup tour. The matter of Cup drivers racing in the Busch has always -- always -- been an issue in the division, but to have complained about the situation in years past seems almost comical given today's climate.

The last two Busch Series championships, the last two ever, have went to Cup stars Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards and by ridiculous margins. There was no contest, the title all but decided in May both seasons.

An identity crisis? The Busch and soon to be Nationwide Series has one, big time. Still, Ponturo insists the problems the series faces had nothing to do with Anheuser-Busch's decision to end one of the longest-running sponsorships the sport has ever seen.

"It wasn't about NASCAR," Ponturo said. "The decision was a result of shifting marketing objectives within the company. Despite what opinions may exist, NASCAR has shaped the Busch Series into a tremendously successful property. It's in good hands."

THE REGULARS

The careers of Randy LaJoie, David Green and Jason Keller bridged the gap from past to present, the trio having raced against everyone from Ingram, Houston and Tommy Ellis to Harvick, Edwards and Denny Hamlin. They have seen the series expand from bullrings like Hickory and South Boston, where such things as pit walls just didn't seem to matter, to such far flung places as California, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Mexico City.

All three men have at one time or another turned down opportunities to race at the Nextel Cup level, opting instead to become bigger fish in a smaller pond. If anybody has earned the right to comment on what the Busch Series once was, what it is now and where they see it headed, it's these guys.

Green simply wants to see the series retain a sense of itself by maintaining a solid foundation of series veterans like himself and Keller.

"I feel like I'm a guy the series could view as a cornerstone, the same way as when I came in, I viewed Tommy Houston and Tommy Ellis," Green said. "Just like with Nextel Cup, we think of Richard Petty or [Dale] Earnhardt, I think the Busch Series needs somebody like that to identify with. Who's the cornerstone of the Busch Series [today]? Who's that guy? A bunch of Cup guys?"

"Maybe it's just me, but I get the perception that some of the younger guys don't respect what I have done for the Busch Series and what David Green has done for the Busch Series and what Mark Martin has done for the Busch Series," Keller added. "It's not that I want them to move over and not race me any harder, but some of the young guns come in and think the Busch Series owes them something. I don't think the Busch Series owes them a daggone thing."

THE OYGs (ORIGINAL YOUNG GUNS)

When LaJoie made his first Busch Series start at Darlington in April 1986, Ingram taught him a lesson in humility that he'll never forget.

"I went to Darlington and followed Jack Ingram around that place," LaJoie said. "I couldn't believe how much he taught me by following him. I was faster than him, and I finally passed him. When I passed him, I didn't know what I was doing.

"The series, with Tommy Houston and Sam Ard, those guys were willing, very willing to help you. It was a good time. They only had two or three guys working on the cars, and they wanted to beat you. But they also wanted to help you. It was a lot lower key than it is today."

There is no way to get around the fact that Cup drivers have competed in -- and most of the time, dominated -- the Busch Series since Earnhardt won its first official race in 1982. And to a person, Keller, Green and LaJoie admit that racing against guys from the other side of the fence elevated their game.

It also scared the daylights out of them.

Green had all of three Busch races under his belt -- one at Hickory in 1989, plus another at Hickory and one at Richmond the following season -- before qualifying on the pole at Daytona for the opening race of his rookie season. Just imagine what it must have been like for Green to see who'd qualified third.

"The guy that lined up right behind me in third was Dale Earnhardt," Green said. "That's when we qualified on Monday and we raced on the following Saturday. All week long, I just had nightmares about him putting me three-wide before we ever got to Turn 1."

Want to know how much the Busch Series has changed? When Green took the green flag in Daytona that afternoon, he'd just turned 33 years old a few weeks before. A little more than two months later, Green won at Gainesville, Ga.'s Lanier Raceway in just the ninth race of the season. At the time, it was the quickest any rookie had ever made it to Victory Lane.

Still, leave it to the media to ruin a special moment.

Jason Keller

This past October at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Jason Keller became the all-time starts leader in the Busch Series taking the green flag for the 418th time.

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"I was very proud of the fact that I'd won so early in my rookie season," Green said. "I'll never forget some reporter saying after the race, 'It was a good night, but there's no Cup guys here.' I'll never forget the feeling, it was like yesterday. I was so full of energy, and all of a sudden, my balloon was popped."

The difference between then and now, Green says, is that Cup drivers then drove for independent Busch owners. Harry Gant wheeled Ed Whitaker's car. Dale Jarrett's effort was backed by Horace Isenhour. Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip drove their own stuff, but their teams were completely separate from the Cup entries.

What good, after all, was information on a Busch V-6 engine going to do for a Cup V-8 powerplant? It just didn't translate.

"They drove for themselves or guys like Horace Isenhour or Ed Whitaker," Green said. "Those gentlemen were just Busch Series owners. Earnhardt didn't have RCR engines in his car, so there was really no connection [between the Cup and Busch divisions], other than just the driver and the helmet. That's why I think they were under the radar, and you viewed them as pretty much just regular ol' guys."

Ask Keller to name the biggest win of his career, and there's really no hesitation.

"Dover," he interjects. "Passed Mark Martin for the win." End of story.

Oh, Keller's first career Busch win at Indianapolis Raceway Park was big, because he won with a team owned by his father, Joe, and many of the crew members who'd followed him from the South Carolina dirt tracks. But throwing down with Martin, and passing him one-on-one, fair-and-square late in the race?

That was huge.

One of LaJoie's biggest victories came at Darlington, where Jeff Burton passed him for the lead coming off Turn 2 on the final lap, only to have LaJoie take it right back between the treacherous Turns 3 and 4. So, no, these guys have no particular gripe against Cup drivers in the Busch Series. It's what was to come, what's taking place right now that has their attention.

HOW IT CHANGED

Johnny Benson drove the No. 74 BACE Motorsports Chevrolet to the 1995 Busch championship. When Benson moved to the Cup circuit, LaJoie took over and went on to capture the 1996 and '97 titles. Owner Bill Baumgardner's three consecutive championships were and still are unprecedented, and he had no backing from a Cup team. He didn't need it.

Today, a Busch team can't compete for a championship without Cup participation. Only one other non-Cup-affiliated team -- Jeff Green and ppc Racing in 2000 -- has been able to win the Busch Series championship since LaJoie's reign ended.

"Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. changed the Busch Series," LaJoie said. "As any father would do for his son, Big E gave Junior whatever he needed. When they came in, they brought the Busch Series to the next level. Then, RCR saw that and started pouring money into the Busch car. Gibbs saw it. Roush saw it. Ganassi has seen it. When those five main guys started putting money and technology into the Busch Series, it's dwindled the ownership terribly.

"If you look across the board, you're only gonna have a handful of owners that own everything. When I first started, you didn't have multi-car teams. You have 43 different owners in the Busch Series. Now, you've only got a handful, and they've all got their 18-to-25-year-old kids. An older guy's not gonna get a job."

Another important ingredient in the evolution of the Busch Series has been the gradual transformation of its cars into ones nearly identical to those found in the Nextel Cup garage. To the naked eye, there's virtually no difference in the appearance of cars from the two divisions. Under the hood, only a handful of rules keep them from being identical.

As Busch cars slowly morphed into Cup machines, rules limiting Cup testing also placed a premium on information. Cup organization supplement testing by racing in the Busch Series ... and get paid for it. Green calls the practice a "paid Happy Hour."

"As racing has evolved, the Busch Series information will translate so closely to the Cup Series," Keller adds. "You're not only racing against Mark Martin and those guys; you're racing against 10 engineers on top of the pit box. You're racing against the whole team, not just the driver.

"When you walk by Ganassi's war wagon, what do you see? All their Cup engineers. They're gathering as much data as they can. When I started seeing that, that's when I realized that the Busch Series was changing. It's tough to race against all that data."

THE FUTURE

Both Green and Keller see the Car of Tomorrow dramatically decreasing the amount of Cup drivers who participate in the Busch Series.

"I think it's going to be the biggest thing that's happened to the Busch Series since this whole wave of Cup involvement began," Green said. "As long as the Busch Series will have a different car, that will self-discipline the amount of involvement that we have. It's all positive ... all positive."

It might not all be positive. The majority of top-20 non-Cup affiliated owners from just a few years ago are no longer active in the Busch Series. Gone are Baumgardner, Clarence Brewer, Brad Akins, Stan and Bill Herzog, George de Bidart, Ed Evans and Scott Welliver.

So what happens five years from now, when the Car of Tomorrow is fully in place and there's no longer an advantage for Cup teams to race in the Nationwide Series? Good question, says Keller.

"It's a huge concern," Keller continued. "NASCAR can say what they want. There's a lot of positive things in the Busch Series right now. I'm not arguing that fact. ... But I hope you'll have enough owners surface -- enough Clarence Brewers, enough Greg Pollexes -- that can survive and fill that gap. Only time will tell that.

"Right now is not the time that I'm worried about the Busch Series, because Cup guys bring notoriety. I'm not oblivious to that. I'm more worried about when the Cup owners and the Cup drivers don't need the Busch Series. What's gonna happen then? Hopefully, it'll all work out that the No. 2 series in America will be strong enough to survive."