TV ad buyers hitting the brakes on NASCAR

Advertising sales for NASCAR's season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 15 appear to be on par, Fox Sports tells Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal, but projections for the first two quarters of 2008 are about 25 percent below last year's level.

A Fox source told the publication the network is still asking $550,000 for 30-second spots, which it got for last year’s season-opening Sprint Cup race. But several other sources put rates in the $350,000 to $450,000 range, according to the report on the Sports Business Journal site. Additionally, one source said, Daytona 500 spots at the higher rates include additional placement in prerace and post race shows.

Rates for 30-second spots during other Cup races on Fox are down marginally, the Street & Smith account said, and are in the $75,000 to $125,000 range .

Fox carries the first 13 Cup races of the season.