The 26-year history of the NASCAR Busch Series comes to an official close this weekend when Carl Edwards is honored as the sponsor's final champion.
When Edwards accepts the award for winning the 2007 title in tonight's ceremony in Orlando, it will bring down the curtain on one of the strongest and most popular sponsorships in sports history.
"It's really amazing to be a Busch Series champion," said Edwards. "I can't tell you how exciting that is and what it means to me."
In 1982, Anheuser-Busch stepped up to sponsor what was previously known as NASCAR's late model sports division and the Busch Series was born.
"I think at the time, we needed a place for guys coming from weekly racing, or short track racing, into something that was more competitive, but not at the Cup level," NASCAR vice president for corporate communications Jim Hunter said about the creation of the circuit. "We also had a lot of tracks at that time that wanted events, but we didn't have enough Cup races to go around."
After 26 seasons, Busch will step away in favor of new sponsor Nationwide ending an era for what has become the second most popular racing circuit in the country.
Over the years some of the sport's top names have competed in the Busch Series including Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Jack Ingram, Sam Ard and Mark Martin, who is the career series win leader with 47.
"The Busch Series has meant a lot to me over my career and it was an honor to race in the series," said Martin. "It was a great series and I'm sure it will continue to be as it moves forward with new sponsorship."
