Budweiser Could End Its Sponsorship Next Season

Looking back in NASCAR archives, there has been one sponsor there since the birth of the sport on television.

The first race televised was in 1979 when Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison battled it out for the win in the 1979 Daytona 500. Allison was in a car sponsored by Hawaiian Tropic, which left the sport in the mid 1980's.

Yarborough was sponsored by a company who has been the staple of sponsorship since 1979, Anheuser-Busch. The Busch brand was on Yarborough's car that afternoon.

Since 1979, Budweiser and Busch have been associated with NASCAR in a way no other company has. Budweiser continued to sponsor Junior Johnson's No. 11 until 1994, when it left for Hendrick Motorsports.

Not only was Budweiser on Johnson's No. 11, they also sponsored a second entry, the No. 12 car driven mostly by the late Neil Bonnett.

If that isn't enough, in 1982 a second division of stock cars came into place, which was also sponsored by Anheuser-Busch.

The NASCAR Busch Series, started in 1982 and has grown significantly since the early days, into what is now the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Busch stopped sponsoring the series after the 2007 season.

Not only that, when ever a driver won a pole, it was known, for several years as the Bud Pole Award. If you won a Bud Pole, you were eligibly for the Busch Clash, or what was recently called the Budweiser Shootout.

The Race at Watkins Glen, from 1987 to 1995 was always known as the Bud at the Glen. They also sponsored the a race at Dover International Speedway from 1983 to 1994. From 1982-1988, they sponsored one race a year at Riverside International Speedway. From 1980-1993 Anheuser Busch sponsored a race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

After Budweiser left Johnson's team, they moved to Hendrick Motorsports for three seasons with drivers Ken Schrader, Ricky Craven, and Randy LaJoie.

In 1999, they moved to a DEI Cup entry driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr., and sponsored the sport's most popular driver in the No. 8 car from 1999-2007.

In 2008, they moved to the No. 9 car of Kasey Kahne.

Now, after all Anheuser-Busch has done for this sport, rumors are they are going to move out entirely. Including off of the No. 9 of Kahne as early as the end of the year.

Budweiser?

Seriously?

According to Jayski.com, Anheuser-Busch sold their company in the middle of 2008, to Inbev. Since Inbev has bought the company, they have laid off 1,000 workers, which is 6 percent of their workforce. Reports are that they are going to lay off 15 percent of their workforce.

It's sad to see what this economy is doing to NASCAR. Our best sponsor the last 30 years has been Budweiser. Let's remember everything they did for our sport and applaud Budweiser for being a great sponsor!