The fans and the sport has changed. Does it really matter?
General
I'm a die-hard Ford guy....but I pull for Tony Stewart and Jamie McMurray. I mean I still got my Ford guys like Carl, Kenseth, and Ragan, and Biffle. And so what if next year,Budweiser randomly decides to sign with Tony Stewart..just because he's my favorite driver doesn't mean I'm gonna go get wasted because they sponsor Tony. Sure...it's a plus that McDonalds and Bass Pro sponsors McMurray (good food and a cool store).
But like Jeff said, the merchandising industry is hurting right now. Everytime Jr. drives a different car, a new jacket, hat, and several sizes of diecast come out. They would think that it would be a killer item, but once he drives close to 10 of these special paint schemes a year...that $60 car, $20 hat, and $100 Jacket can add up quick.
Back when, well even as recent as a few years ago. You didn't have to worry about that. You knew at the time that Tony Stewart was always gonna drive the #20 Home Depot Chevy, you always knew that Dale Jr drove the Bud #8 and Sr always drove the Black #3. Petty was always STP #43, and for a majority of his career, Bill Elliott drove a #9 Coors Ford Thunderbird.
Now, especially this year, you really can't keep up with what car/color a driver is running during the race unless youintenselyfollow the different schemes online (which I don't anymore) In fact, this Daytona 500....when Bill Elliott was driving the #09 for James Finch, in the 125 Duels', he drove an unsponsored red #09. During the 500, I kept looking for that car. But it wasn't until the green-white-checkered when he was in 8th place, that I realised that his car was know gray and blue with yellow numbers.
Sorry for so much
-Cody