Back when Budweiser parent Anheuser-Busch announced it would end its 25-year reign as sponsor of NASCAR’s No. 2 racing series at the end of this season, securing a replacement Busch Series sponsor was not looked upon as a problem. But negotiations with potential replacements, including restaurant chain Subway, have come to naught. Business types say the sponsorship, said to be $30 million annually, is too costly for a support series and, in Subway’s case, a series in which rival food service companies can be seen on competing cars. Business writers say NASCAR’s asking price for Busch Series sponsorship has now dropped to half the original amount sought yet there’s still no taker!  

There are reports Jack Roush, who owns five Nextel Cup teams and is now faced with complying with NASCAR’s four-team per owner maximum, is seeking a buyer for his extra team that would expand it into a multi-car effort relying on the plenitude of Roush assets, technical and administrative, to develop it into a title contender. Roush says an investor group is now being sought to develop that concept. No names yet. 

Of the many young racing drivers here and there, how many are dreaming of a NASCAR drive? The 2004 Jack Roush Gong Show, which evaluates skills of aspiring young drivers, had 1,500 applicants. After early tests, 25 of the tyros were chosen for further attention. Then, after on-track running at Darlington and Martinsville, David Ragan, a 5’-6” 19 year old, wound up winning and has replaced Mark Martin as driver of the No. 6 Roush Ford.

More Roush: He’s very much in the news these days. This long-time Ford team owner has now let his feelings about NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow be known. After its on-and-off use in 15 Cup races this year, the CoT goes full time next year on the 36-race Nextel Cup circuit. An early CoT selling point was lower cost for team owners. But Jack Roush now disputes that contention, agreeing that fewer cars will be needed, reminding offsetting that savings are NASCAR’s now tighter inspection rules, and that, with less latitude in inspections, higher costs will surely come for team owners. Roush says minor damage to cars now means a complete body change because, “When you get the kind of shot into the body that causes the snout to bend, you almost always have some amount of distress that is put into the rest of the car. And, when we had reasonably wide-open, or relatively wide-open tolerances you were able to let the tolerance be taken out by the effects of the crash. You can’t do that now.” Roush argues for an all-steel stamped out body that could easily be welded onto a chassis.   

Caught a lot of racing TV over the weekend. Two things stood out in Friday night’s Speed TV coverage of the ARCA RE/MAX stock-car race at Gateway Int’l, that underused mile oval in Madison, Ill., just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis: 1. The incredibly small spectator turnout, and, 2. A surprise influx of sports-car drivers. There were a half-dozen road-racing regulars from the Rolex series trying out stock-car racing on an oval. Saturday’s rebirth of Detroit’s Belle Isle circuit featured the American LeMans Series, which, unfortunately, continues to show only class positions in its streaming video, never the overall standing. This race started 21 cars in four classes. GT-1 having only two starters and LMP-1 just four. This show’s plus was learning 10 engine manufacturers now participate in the ALMS series, more than in NASCAR, the IRL and Champ Car combined. Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR’s Camping World 300 Busch Series race played to a small crowd at California Speedway in a race red flagged for a half-hour near the halfway mark after a spectacular and fiery crash destroyed the No. 88 Chevrolet of Brad Keselowski and sent him to the hospital for a brief checkup. Fellow crashers J.J. Yeley, Eric McClure and A.J. Allmendinger all escaped injury but that can not be said of their cars. Jeff Burton wound up winning this Busch race, leading fellow Cup regulars to the top 11 places. At Belle Isle Saturday, a Penske P-2 Porsche outsped the P-1 Audi R-10 Diesels to win. Both of Saturday’s side-by side telecasts, NASCAR’s on ESPN 2 and ALMS on Speed, were tape delayed, resulting in each one ending well after midnight EDT. Sunday’s IRL round at The Raceway at Belle Isle drew a good crowd, as it looked like most seats were occupied. Despite a number of lead changes, the race could be described as “passless,” as there was never an on-track pass for the lead. Mainstretch grandstand patrons were well treated as most yellow flag-causing incidents took place in their full view. A wild ending saw Scott Dixon nerf second-place Buddy Rice into the wall with two laps to go only to spin and be T-boned by Dario Franchitti. The victorious Tony Kanaan led Danica Patrick and Dan Wheldon under the checker one lap short of the scheduled 90 laps due to the race’s suddenly imposed time limit. ABC directors should learn to mute engine sounds when interviews are being conducted.  Most drivers and many hard-core fans — ye ed included — suffer from hearing loss, which should be taken into consideration by TV directors. Sunday’s other televised race, for Nextel Cuppers in California, may well have been the hottest NASCAR race ever run, with the thermometer often showing over 100 degrees. It was a race one had to stay up after midnight to see the checker wave over the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy of homestater Jimmie Johnson for the fifth time this year. Earnhardt fans were pleased. After leading for several laps Dale, Jr. finished fifth. A superb comeback drive by Ryan Newman after being spun from behind by Jeff Burton ended with Newman back in the top five before DNFing with engine woes. In addition to affecting the drivers, the heat preyed on the walk-up attendance as well with many empty seats visible. Despite oversleeping Sunday morning and missing the Dutch Champ Car telecast, in addition to all of the above, ye ed also squeezed in the World of Outlaws sprint-car telecast from Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. Enough TV for a while.

As a teenager consumed by racing and fast cars, ye ed vividly remembers the Mormon Meteor, a Duesenberg SJ driven by Ab Jenkins and the nationwide publicity he and the car got when he drove it to a 24-hour speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1935. This famous car, now fully restored, showed up last month at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and won Best of Show honors. Its current owner, Harry Yeaggy of Cincinnati, bought it at a 2004 Gooding & Co. auction in Monterey for $4.45 million, and was pleased to show it off. It was not offered for sale. 

The Goodguys Rod & Custom Ass’n tells us its East Coast Nationals Sept. 14-16 at the Duchess County fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, N.Y. will have more than 1,500 Muscle Cars, Rods, Customs, Classics and Trick Trucks on display all three days.

Job-hunting NASCAR driver J.J. Yeley may be considering fishing as a new career. He noted such in an ESPN interview after discovering, while watching a TV show, how much money fisherman make. J.J. won't be driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008.

Scott Speed, in the last two seasons the only American driver in F-1, recently ousted from his Red Bull Toro Rosso Team ride, is considering NASCAR in his ride-hunting these days. 

The NASCAR fan who hopped an infield fence during a red-flag period during last month’s Watkins Glen race to get Matt Kenseth’s autograph has been arrested and faces a year in jail, charged with reckless endangerment. 

Bravo for Ethanol. The Indy Racing League has extended its deal with the Iowa Corn Indy 250 race through the 2009 season.

 Call him twinkle toes. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves will be part of the cast for this year’s edition of “Dancing with the Stars,” which airs this fall on ABC.