THAT OL' SPONSORSHIP THING; Why NASCAR won't let Crown Royal in.(Motorsports)

Byline: AL PEARCE

Geoff Smith scans the motorsports landscape and wonders. He sees Crown Royal embraced as the title sponsor of IROC. He sees six NASCAR drivers wearing Crown Royal colors in IROC races that are carried on network TV. He sees Crown Royal banners, billboards and hospitality kiosks at tracks that host IROC and NASCAR races. He notices that Crown Royal is the whiskey of choice of International Speedway Corp. and NASCAR, and that its tracks and drivers openly support the series.

Then he sees the white, unsponsored No. 99 Roush Racing Ford and wonders why Crown Royal can't sponsor it. If Jim Beam can sponsor an IRL team that runs on ISC tracks, why can't Crown Royal sponsor a NASCAR team?

Good questions... ones that lack any sustentative answers.

Smith heads the sponsorship arm of Roush Racing. Four of owner Jack Roush's five Nextel Cup teams enjoy solid backing and have won races since 2002. The exception is Jeff Burton's struggling and sponsorless No. 99 team. Between 1996 and 2003 it won 17 races, had 139 top 10 finishes and was in the top-10 in final points on five occasions. But Burton's career-worst losing streak reached 95 in the Siemens 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. His 19-race scorecard is bleak: no poles, no wins, one top-five, three top-10s and four DNFs. He is 23rd in points, already out of the season-ending Chase for the Championship.

Burton was no factor in the two-man show that was New Hampshire. Pole-winner Ryan Newman led the first 170 laps and Kurt Busch led the next 42 before Jimmy Spencer led four while pit stops cycled around. Newman led laps 216 to 232, but was no match for Busch, who led the final 68 for his second victory of the season. Jeff Gordon was second, then Newman, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who suffered burns last week at the ALMS race at Sears Point (AW, July 26), remains second in points. Earnhardt started the race then turned his car over to Martin Truex Jr., who finished two laps down in 31st.

Burton started 27th, never quite reached the top-10 and finished 12th, among 29 drivers on the lead lap. "It's been a tough year for many reasons, but I know we can do better,'' the 37-year-old driver said after Loudon, scene of his '93 Cup debut and four of his 17 wins. "The sponsorship thing has been an issue, but we've put that behind us. It was more of an issue in the winter, when we didn't know what was going to happen. We have some new people on the team, really good people who want to learn and be better. But it's a matter of getting to know each other. We've run better than we did today. We need to get something good to build on.''