Fans Demand a Return for ‘Busch Series’ as NASCAR’s $150 Billion Worth Sponsor Contemplates Major Changes in Partnership

NASCAR is in a major period of transition with its sponsors. Key partners like Xfinity and GEICO are in renewal talks as per sources close to Adam Stern of SBJ. The governing body is also looking to land a ‘fifth premier partner’ alongside the other two. But those details are yet to develop.

However, it was Stern’s most recent Twitter summary on the issue that caught the eyes of audiences worldwide, when he wrote, “@Xfinity may do a short-term renewal as title sponsor of the @NASCAR_Xfinity Series for 2025 before shifting its relationship with @NASCAR to just being a premier partner…” 

With $150B+ Comcast Corporation’s cable & wireless services wing, ‘Xfinity’, reportedly is pondering over its naming rights deal with the second-tier. Following that, a wave of nostalgia has emerged from the wider audiences. One that rightfully demands a familiar brand to return to the title banner of NASCAR’s developmental division after a near-decade-long hiatus. 

The weight of history in NASCAR’s naming rights

Since 1984 to 2007, the ‘Busch Series’ moniker for NASCAR’s secondary series has carried significant weight with fans. It represents a golden era of driver development in NASCAR. From Dale Earnhardt to Jeff Gordon, many legends cut their teeth in the Busch Series when brewing giants Anheuser-Busch InBev’s subsidiary lager brand was the title sponsor for the second-tier.

The 26-year-long association ended in 2008 when Nationwide Insurance succeeded Busch for the naming rights deal. At that time, the contract was reported to be worth $12 million annually over seven years. But that would barely signal the exit for Busch Light in NASCAR. After all, the brand’s ties with the company go deeper than 1982, all the way to the first flag-to-flag televised coverage of the 1979 Daytona 500, where Cale Yarborough drove his #11 Oldsmobile championing a vintage blue-and-white Busch Light paint scheme.

Apart from that, the beverage brand’s rolling billboard has been on the cars of Dale Jarrett, Kevin Harvick & Ross Chastain. They’ve also sponsored the Clash in recent years and are currently the ‘official beer of NASCAR’.

In contrast, Xfinity became the title sponsor of the second tier “as part of a corporate synergy strategy” by its parent company Comcast. As Stern noted, Comcast’s subsidiary commercial sports coverage services, “NBC Sports began broadcasting NASCAR races that year.” This news came nearly a decade after NBC had given up on an initial agreement in the mid-2000s for schedule conflicts with their Sunday Night Football telecast, recently acquired from ESPN.

In the years following, Xfinity has made many inroads into NASCAR racing. After all, Stern stated that “Xfinity currently spends more than $10 million in the sport annually.” They sponsor the championship race in Martinsville–the Xfinity 500 and currently have an active partnership with Michael Jordan & Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing. Moreover, the ‘major changes’ that Xfinity has been contemplating in recent regard. According to Comcast’s VP of branded partnerships and activation, Matt Lederer, on Stern’s release, includes dedicating “some of its league-level spending to other parts of the NASCAR industry, such as its team relationship with 23XI Racing.”

But the biggest outlier has been the update that Xfinity might only be looking for a year-long renewal of their naming rights deal with NASCAR’s developmental series once the current one expires at the end of 2024. This follows the clouds of doubt surrounding a 7.7-billion-dollar media rights which indirectly impacts Xfinity’s parent company NBC. The broadcast giants will have to cut short their coverage by more than just a few races with the inclusion of newer streaming partners next year.

Nevertheless, in the background of these impending questions, the fans have harkened back to a tried & tested formula. And no, we are not talking about Busch Light’s 4.1% anomaly. Instead, the grandstands want the company to sponsor NASCAR’s ‘Xfinity Series’ again.

Social media flooded with calls for “Busch Series” revival

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This isn’t just about sentimentality. The ‘Busch Series’ name held much prestige, instantly recognizable to even the most casual of racing fans. It represented the final stepping stone before the Cup Series, a breeding ground for future champions. From Jack Ingram’s championship in its inaugural 1982 season when the Xfinity Series was known as the Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series, to Cole Custer’s most recent triumph in the 2023 season, the thrills of the second tier can barely be justified in just mere words.

Regardless, NASCAR Twitter is certainly vocal about which brand it thinks should be the primary partner to capture those same thrills, especially if Xfinity decides to settle only as one of those five future ‘premier partners’, Stern talked about in his report.

Replying to Adam Stern’s Twitter update, fans quickly noted what they felt Stern meant to say ‘In other words’. According to one fan, “NASCAR is running out of time to find the right sponsor.” But most of the audience was loud in demanding that NASCAR revert the Xfinity Series to the “Busch Series PLEASE”.

One fan drew some comparisons between the Truck Series sponsor, ‘Craftsman’ to explain, “@BuschBeer your turn to be like Craftsman! Bring back the NASCAR Busch Series in 2026!” But as another fan, interestingly opined, “That series really needs a name more than a sponsorship. We have Cup, we have Trucks, and we have “Xfinity”. Surely NASCAR is working overtime to increase its character across all 3 racing series. But tending to the needs of a global audience is barely child’s play.

Concluding on a positive note, another member of the NASCAR community thanked Xfinity for pulling off a decade-long partnership with the sport. They wrote: “Gonna be sad the day Xfinity leaves the title sponsorship. They’ve been a tremendous partner and makes me pleased to be a customer of theirs.”

What comes forth of these demands? We must find out at the end of the 2024 season.