By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
October 6, 2007
05:23 PM EDT
TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Mike Wallace is subbing for the injured Ricky Rudd this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, but his focus is somewhere else.
With this week's announcement that Nationwide Insurance will be the new sponsor for NASCAR's No. 2 series, Wallace's Busch Series sponsor -- rival GEICO -- has been given two years to leave the series.
"I'm really frustrated about it, to be honest with you," Wallace said after Saturday's qualifying. "I guess they caught us all off-guard. We knew nothing about it.
"I originally thought, 'Well, that's no big deal. We'll be grandfathered in, just like Alltel was in the Cup deal.' Then all of a sudden, that changed. Hopefully, the sponsor will stay involved for the two years left in their contract and we'll make the best of it."
Nationwide agreed to a seven-year deal reportedly worth $10 million per year -- and was announced Wednesday as the replacement for Anheuser-Busch's Busch brand, beginning with the 2008 season. That means GEICO will have until the end of 2009 to determine its future in NASCAR, according to Steve Phelps, NASCAR's chief marketing officer.
"We are going to have a sunset provision," Phelps said. "It really is only affecting one outlet, and one company, and that would be GEICO. They will have a two-year provision, a two-year sunset, which we think will give those involved an opportunity to go elsewhere, and GEICO potentially to migrate up to what will become the Sprint Cup or the Craftsman Truck Series."
Wallace said he now expects to sit down with his sponsor to determine a plan for the immediate future.
"We had to basically do a fact-finding mission to find out what happened, why it happened this way, why it's not what we thought it was going to be and so forth," Wallace said. "I'm sure we'll all converse this coming week and let the sting of this settle a little bit for all of us.
"When you work really hard in this sport and in my situation, the agreement is between the driver and my company, to tell a sponsor that's been in the sport for seven years -- they were the first insurance company in this sport -- you would think you'd get a little more respect than that."
Wallace said GEICO has shown tremendous allegiance to the Busch Series in the past.
"They are the only sponsor presently that is doing television commercials around the Busch Series," he said. "Once they came into the sport, they forced other companies to step up to the table.
"They have single-handedly done more than anybody for the Busch Series. And that's the facts."
What might be a good deal for NASCAR doesn't always benefit individual teams, Wallace said. In his case, his future may hinge on finding a fully-funded sponsor to replace GEICO -- something that many teams are struggling to find.
"It's a shame that in a couple of years, they'll be locked out of the sport because I don't think it's good for the sport, personally," Wallace said. "The whole race world is driven off free enterprise and competition. Why don't you want to compete against your competition?
"My own belief is that they're good for the series even though there's another insurance company that's going to sponsor the series. I don't understand why they've got a problem with it. I'd rather have your competition now plugging your name, running around with a decal on the front fender of your car. It would be a plus for everybody."
Wallace said he has met with NASCAR officials, and understands their position. Still, that doesn't make things any easier when he thinks about how much is at stake.
"I had a conversation with Mike Helton late yesterday and he explained everything," Wallace said. "At least we have a focus on how it came to this decision and we can go back and discuss everything. I very much hope that we just continue for the next two years, win a bunch of races and figure out how it all shakes out in 2010.
"It is what it is. It's not going to change and we've got to try to make the best of that."