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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Friday Loudon Notebook
Sponsors, or lack thereof, highly visible at New Hampshire this weekend.
Tom Jensen  |  Posted June 28, 2007   Loudon, N.H.
Infusion: Carl Edwards' car carries sponsorship from Lumber Liquidators and Gillette for the first time, as well as a special Boston Red Sox paint scheme. (Todd Warshaw/Getty Images) MORE NASCAR PHOTOS


SPONSOR SAGAS If you ever wanted to know just how much the NASCAR sponsorship world is changing, you need to look no further than New Hampshire International Speedway, historically not exactly the epicenter of NASCAR commerce. And yet, some of the biggest news on Friday concerned sponsorship changes for this weekend's festivities at NHIS.

On one extreme was the newly repainted white No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Carl Edwards, which carried sponsorship from Lumber Liquidators and Gillette for the first time, as well as a special Boston Red Sox paint scheme to tie into the team's big promotion at Fenway Park this weekend. His teammate, Greg Biffle, had new colors, too, with new sponsor Aflac on the No. 16 Ford Fusion for the first time.

On the opposite extreme were the jet black Ginn Racing Chevrolets of Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin, which have no primary sponsors this weekend. Why not? Very simple: The team is trying to illustrate that it needs sponsors for some races in the second half of the season on the two cars or in the NASCAR vernacular, it has "available inventory" in the form of unsold primary sponsorships for the remainder of 2007. Team spokesman David Ferroni said normally the team would simply run Ginn Resorts logos on the car, but by keeping them sponsor-free, it tells all the would-be backers out there that there is room at the inn – or at least on the hood and the fenders at Ginn Racing right now.

Also sporting a new look this weekend is Jeff Burton's No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, which is carrying a white scheme and sponsorship from Lenox Industrial Tools, which is also sponsoring Sunday's race at New Hampshire International Speedway. His teammate, Clint Bowyer, is backed this weekend by Camping World.

And Haas CNC Racing's No. 70 NASCAR Nextel Cup entry, driven by Johnny Sauter, will have co-primary sponsorship from Atlas Copco Compressors for Sunday's race along with Haas Automation.
Kyle Busch doesn't want to have to worry about what his team may really be thinking. (LAT photo) MORE NASCAR PHOTOS

BUSCH WANTS BACKING Kyle Busch's wish for a new employer is simple: "Somebody looking out for Kyle Busch, somebody that will back me," Busch said Friday when asked what he wants in his still-undecided next team, which he will join in 2008. "Somebody that I guess when I'm right (will) back me up and when I'm wrong (will) take me off to the side and tell me and sit down. Just an organization that will be to the point and tell you to your face. I don't need somebody or something or people that will be sort of two-faced, they'll be telling you something 'Oh, you're great,' this, that, everything else in the front and then go behind closed doors and talk to somebody else and say 'Man, he's out of control. What are we doing?' this, that or whatever."

Busch was quick to say his current employer, Hendrick Motorsports, didn't come across to him as two-faced, at least not directly. "I didn't see it but I've heard it so I'd rather just look and find somebody that does stand behind me, that I know stands behind me, that I hear it from everybody that they're standing behind me and everything like that instead of hearing it through the grapevine that there's different things being said," said Busch.

Busch did allow he doesn't quite have the marketability of the man who will replace him next year at Hendrick. "Dale Earnhardt, Jr. we have to remember is Dale Earnhardt, Jr.," Busch said of his successor. "He can sell a chocolate popsicle to a woman in a white dress. It's easy. Or people have said a ketchup popsicle. Kyle Busch, he wouldn't be able to sell a favorite candy bar to a kid, I guess. I've got work to do so I know that and I understand that but I'm looking forward to it."
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