With the domestic auto industry hurting like never before, most analysts expect budgets for motorsports activities to drop dramatically in the coming few months. This slowdown of funds will surely impact NASCAR, which sees participation from each of the Detroit 3 along with Toyota. Despite being one of the most visible racing organizations in the United States, it's also one of the most expensive for teams to operate, with some estimates pegging a single day's worth of track testing at over $100,000 per car. Large teams can expect to save a few million bucks per year in expenses due to the new policy.

In the hustle and bustle of SEMA last week we missed the announcement that Shelby Automobiles will be sponsoring the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motorspeedway in March. The race will actually be lengthened to 427 miles and will be called the 'Shelby 427'. We think it would be more historically appropriate for Shelby to sponsor a road racing event, but the company's proximity to the race track and the better marketing reach make NASCAR a logical choice.

Last December, it was revealed that Craftsman would be dropping its sponsorship of the NASCAR Truck Series, which it had headlined since the sport's inception in 1995. Beginning with the 2009 season, the new series sponsor will be Camping World, a company that already has major ties with the racing community.

In an odd yet intriguing bid to woo potential NASCAR-loving voters in Pennsylvania -- a key battleground state for hopeful presidential candidates -- Barack Obama is currently in talks regarding a possible sponsorship of a NASCAR team. BAM Racing's car number 49 is the vehicle in question, and individual donors to Obama's campaign could get a shot at seeing their very own name plastered on the side of the race car for as little as a $100 contribution. Such a deal! In a move sure to anger some traditional American loyalists, the car, to be driven by Ken Schrader, is a Toyota. We wouldn't expect too many fireworks from the car, though, as the BAM Racing team has only finished in the top ten a total of six times despite starting some 167 races since 2002.

For some time now, rumors have been flying around the NASCAR pits about Tony Stewart's future with Joe Gibbs Racing. Many speculators felt certain that Stewart would break out of his Gibbs Racing contract for a chance at part ownership of the Haas/CNC team. However, both sides assured that any resolution would not be reported before season end. Not quite. possibly tiring of incessant media questioning, the official details have now been made public. Joe Gibbs Racing will in fact be releasing Tony Stewart from his contract a year early. As expected Stewart will take on a part ownership role with HAAS/CNC, set to become Stewart Haas Racing.

Okay, we'll admit it. Most of us here at Autoblog aren't big NASCAR fans. But we have been intrigued by the recent migration of championship-winning open-wheel racers to the stock car series. Former Indy 500 and Monaco GP winner Juan-Pablo Montoya seems to be making a go of it, while fellow Indy and F1 champ Jacques Villeneuve has all but given up hope of ever making it with the good ol' boys. But how about Dario Franchitti?