Time is now for Nationwide Series to separate itself

The way the banners and signage were changed, it was reminiscent of a traveling circus: flags and big-top tents were there one day and mere ghosts the next. The trademarked racing-red colors with white lettering that covered racetracks coast-to-coast was literally taken down overnight to make way for bright yellow with bold black all-cap script. Was this another midnight scheme by Robert Irsay? Football fans in Baltimore are cringing right now.

Nothing of the sense. This was a simple marketing plan -- out with the old, in with the Nextel yellowish-gold.

• Send Josh your thoughts

When the telecommunications conglomerate took over as title sponsor of NASCAR's Cup Series in 2004, the unfamiliarity of re-branding an entire national series began in its infant steps. Under the Winston sponsorship, NASCAR couldn't directly advertise its product to minors. With Nextel it could. Under the Winston sponsorship, young fans confused America's top brand of racing with R.J. Reynolds' top brand of cigarettes. With Nextel, the challenge was mountainous. But at the top of that mountain was a cell phone tower.

The championship format changed. The television package changed. The base from which drivers develop and climb the career ladder has changed. Even the car has changed.

Critics doubted Nextel would ever be able to replace the 31-year-old Winston tag, yet those initial slipups of calling the series by the wrong name have virtually vanished. Aside from the fact that next year the top series will change again from Nextel to Sprint Cup, the overall re-branding of the series can be considered a success.

Now, NASCAR's No. 2 series faces nearly an identical task.

In September 2006, Anheuser-Busch officials decided not to renew the company's contract as title sponsor of what was known as the Busch Series, and 2007 was the beer maker's 26th and final season. On Oct. 3, 2007, NASCAR announced Nationwide Insurance had signed a seven-year deal to sponsor the series.

The timeline of the search was longer than NASCAR would have liked -- big-timers Wal-Mart, KFC and Subway withdrew before Nationwide inked.

The price tag was one that would make Dec. 26 red-tag sales look silly -- NASCAR wanted approximately $30 million annually but settled for an estimated $13 million.

So Nationwide, who popped up just when the series needed it most, can help take the sport's Saturday matinee show in one direction or the other. Will it be the rebound girlfriend, doing all the same things and filling the void until the taller, sexier and more stable replacement comes along? Or will it be that replacement?

It is clearly a time in which Nationwide can help re-brand a series that so often appears lost, cluttered and without identity.

Should full-time Cup Series drivers be allowed to compete in the Nationwide Series and drive for a championship? The last two champions were Cup drivers who ran away with the trophy. Just five races in the last two seasons have been won by non-Cup drivers.

What is the primary mission of the series? Is it to rear the next generation of drivers, as it did with Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth? Or is it to sell tickets by showcasing big names as a preamble to the following day's main event? Eighteen Cup drivers this past season also ran more than half of the 35-race Busch schedule. And this year's top two Cup rookies came from open-wheel racing (Juan Montoya) and the Truck Series (David Ragan). (Continued)