Bud Shootout up in air

The future of the Budweiser Shootout after the 2008 season has yet to be determined with Tuesday's announcement that Coors Light will be the new official beer of NASCAR.

The Shootout, a season-opening, non-points event between the previous year's pole winners and past champions at Daytona International Speedway, will be run in 2008 under the Budweiser name.

After that it will be up to International Speedway Corporation whether to continue the race with Coors Light or another sponsor.

"Our agreement does not include the Shootout," said Andrew Giangola, the director of business communications for NASCAR. "That is a separate entitlement with ISC."

ISC spokesperson Lenny Santiago doesn't expect the Shootout to go away, but he said it's too early to determine sponsorship.

Although Budweiser is the official beer of Daytona International Speedway, Santiago did not rule out an agreement for Coors Light to sponsor the race.

"This sport is laden with sponsors in the same category," he said. "Pepsi has a sponsorship with Jeff Gordon running in the Coca-Cola 600. There's always conflicts and a way to work around that. At this point we just have to see where this lead.

"The race has become a staple of the season and I would suspect that race would go on, but it's too early to speculate on what might happen." More at ESPN.com