¢ New title sponsors mean NASCAR’s top series – the Nextel Cup and Busch Series – will be the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series next season.

It’s the third time the Cup series has been renamed since 2003, and it’s happened because of a merger.

Nationwide will replace Anheuser-Busch, which had sponsored that series for 26 years.

¢ The Cup’s 2008 schedule looks pretty much like it has for the past several years. That might change in the not-too-distant future. Bruton Smith’s recent purchase of New Hampshire International Speedway has fueled speculation he’ll give his Las Vegas track a second race by moving one from either New Hampshire or Atlanta.

If he does, that could cause a shuffle in the schedule.

¢ Like him or not, you have to recognize the class that Jeff Gordon showed during this year’s Chase.

He could have turned the fact that he would have been comfortably ahead under a system that no longer exists into a bigger issue than he did, detracting from teammate Jimmie Johnson’s performance.

Instead, he handled everything the way he always does. With class.