Craftsman Joins Departing NASCAR Sponsors

NASCAR fans have been prepared for this time quite well.

First, R.J. Reynolds dropped their Winston sponsorship of the NASCAR Cup Series in 2004, with Nextel -- and evantually Sprint -- moving in to take it over.

This year, the NASCAR Busch Series dropped its alcoholic moniker in favor of Nationwide Insurance for the 2008 season.

Next year, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will follow the same path of renaming after Craftsman announced they were departing the role after the 2008 campaign.

The move definitely comes as a shock to the racing world given Craftsman's renewed contract in 2005 guaranteed rights through 2010 for the tool company. Additionally, the NCTS was the only NASCAR division to see a general increase in television ratings from a year before.

NASCAR made quite a big deal about the AT&T sponsorship on Jeff Burton's Cup car this year -- including some federal lawsuits -- claiming that it violated terms of the sanctioning body's contact with Sprint-Nextel. With so much emphasis on that seemingly minor situation, it makes you wonder why exactly NASCAR can't have companies sticking to their own contracts.

When Winston left the Cup Series in 2003, there was still time remaining on the deal and with the Truck Series, two years are being left out of the current contract. The blatant allowance of sponsors to not follow a contract completely surely doesn't bode well for how other sponsors view contracts within the sport.

Anywho, you fill in the blank, who will make the best title sponsor of hardest-racing series in NASCAR? Craftsman will be tough to beat -- it's a tough image of the American working class with no negative influences.