The Busch Series is no more.

NASCAR announced today that it signed a new deal to make Nationwide Insurance the title sponsor of its No. 2 racing series beginning in 2008.

The new deal ends NASCAR's relationship with Busch, which first signed on as a sponsor 26 years ago. It also makes Nationwide the official auto, home and life insurance provider of NASCAR.

NASCAR officials declined to reveal the financial terms of the deal, and Nationwide refused to comment on how much it charges a NASCAR driver in premium.

In all seriousness, the new deal is reported to be worth about $10 million over seven years. And Nationwide said it had no qualms about sponsoring a sport that routinely features cars crashing into each other.

"We looked long and hard at this ... NASCAR really demonstrated to us a commitment to safety," Nationwide Chief Marketing Officer James Lyski said.

For Nationwide, this is it second big sponsorship in the world of sports. The company is also the title sponsor of the Nationwide Tour, PGA Tour's #2 circuit.

NASCAR officials now must work to avoid the sponsorship overlap fiasco that plagued the Nextel Cup earlier this year. You may recall that NASCAR got locked into a legal battle with AT&T that stemmed largely from the racing series decision to make a Sprint, a competing phone company, its title sponsor in 2008. All sides settled in that case (AT&T can stay as a team sponsor through 2008), but it got unnecessarily ugly. In the case of Nationwide, other insurance companies -- GEICO in particular -- can remain as team sponsors for two years and can then pursue sponsorships with the Craftsman Truck Series or Sprint Cup.

-- Tim Lemke