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.

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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).

What type of car will the series drive? Rumors of pony cars and souped-up current models were said to be a potential route, but it was spilled and later confirmed in October that the series plans to have a Car of Tomorrow chassis in place for the 2009 season.

These questions only spider into more concerns that could either set the series in stone for another generation of standstill or propel it forward into a new form of entertainment, much like the Cup Series did with Nextel -- and most of those questions revolve around familiar names on the entry list:

• If Cup drivers are limited, how many races can they drive?
• Can Cup drivers compete for the championship?
• Should there be separate points systems?
• Will Cup drivers shy away from the series if no COT is run?
• If a COT chassis is adopted, will that fuel the Cup driver invasion?

"We want to distinguish that series for what it is -- incredible competition," said Brian France during an impromptu news conference at Homestead to close the season. "We'll deal with the Nextel Cup drivers that are there in some way. Not sure what we'll do, if anything."

Tracks obviously have their preference. Big names sell big tickets.

"The people in the Nationwide Series need to decide if they want to be a major-league series like they are now or go back to being a minor-league series," said Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, not hiding which side he's on. "If they want to be major league, they have to have names that will cause people to buy tickets and television networks to broadcast their races. Otherwise, they have to go back to 6,000-8,000-seat speedways and run for $100,000."

Looks, however, can be deceiving. The Truck Series visits three tracks -- Mansfield, Memphis and ORP -- that all seat less than 35,000. And 14 of the Truck Series' 25 events had purses of less than $500,000. Yet for the third time in four years, television ratings for the series increased.

A different type of racecar, drivers that race strictly in that series, and a series that stands proud as both a breeding ground and retirement home for talent -- it all adds up to success for what is considered the sport's No. 3 series.

The time is now for the Nationwide Series to separate itself from obscurity and develop a unique identity as it sits sandwiched between the large-living Cup Series and the niche loving Truck Series. NASCAR's Jan Brady has watched as older and younger sisters get all the attention, and now is the opportunity -- or excuse -- to shine on the red carpet.

Oops, with Nationwide's colors, make that a blue carpet.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.