Funding has been a major issue with NASCAR lately, and the primary target for the funding issues has been the Truck Series.
However, the sport's latest sponsor-related issue will affect one of the most iconic races in NASCAR. According to The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Enterprise Florida is aiming to end its marketing ties with the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
The company is planning to reduce its marketing outreach by $3 million in the next fiscal year, and chief marketing officer Joe Hice said the event is simply too expensive.
"Those are rather expensive events," Hice said. "We think they're bucket list events. People want to come to those events, so we'd like to continue to do it. But we'd like to get them (Daytona) to help us out with the events."
Related: The future of NASCAR Truck Series could be in jeopardy
Lawmakers in Florida pushed for the elimination of Enterprise Florida, but Senate leaders helped keep the company alive.
As a compromise, they decided to set the company's budget at $16 million, which is down from last year's budget of $23.5 million.
The marketing side of Enterprise Florida will suffer the most as its budget will be slashed. The budgeting shift will almost assuredly impact events at Daytona International Speedway, which is not the news NASCAR officials needed right now.
Funding has been an issue at all levels of the sport, and even top drivers such as Kyle Larson have recently lost sponsors.
NASCAR should still be fine in the short term, but funding could continue being an issue in the future.
(h/t Daytona Beach News-Journal)