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New Series Names Among Changes For This Season

By TONY FABRIZIO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 10, 2008

New titles for NASCAR's top two series and full-season use of the Car of Tomorrow are the main changes fans will notice for 2008.

Here's a look at those adjustments and a few others worth mentioning:

•NASCAR's premier series is now the Sprint Cup, reflecting the merger between Sprint and Nextel announced in 2005 and the combined company's decision to emphasize the Sprint brand.

•Anheuser-Busch is out after 26 seasons as sponsor of NASCAR's Triple-A series. Nationwide Insurance has filled the gap, and the series is now the Nationwide Series.

•Boxier, safer and easily recognizable for its rear wing, the Car of Tomorrow - now simply the "new car" - is the only car in the Sprint Cup Series. NASCAR originally planned a three-year phase-in program, starting with last year's debut at short tracks, one-mile tracks, road courses and Talladega. But team owners complained preparing two types of cars was difficult, and NASCAR decided the car would be run everywhere in 2008.

In a minor change to qualifying, teams needing to qualify on speed - those outside the top 35 in owner points and lacking a past champion's provisional - will be grouped at the end of qualifying. Previously, the "go-or-go-homers" were spread out among those with guaranteed starting berths, and changing track temperatures often affected their chances of making the field.
Sprint Cup teams will be able to acquire 50 sets of tires from Goodyear for non-sanctioned testing. Last year, teams were allowed to test on their own only with tires left over from previous seasons or obtained from another manufacturer. NASCAR made the change "for safety's sake" and to aid proper team development, vice president for competition Robin Pemberton said.

The new season also ushers in some major lineup changes, led by Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s move from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing's switch from Chevrolet to Toyota. Those changes will be explored thoroughly elsewhere in our coverage.

Finally, the Sprint Cup schedule remains largely unchanged except for the summer race at Chicagoland Speedway, which was moved from Sunday afternoon to Saturday night. As outlined in our television story in this section, the starting times for afternoon races will be more consistent.

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