Believe it or not, NASCAR currently has no official beer

And there’s some question of whether another beer will step up before the 2018 season begins.

Beer just goes hand in hand with professional sports, but perhaps none as much as NASCAR. Brewers have long sponsored cars on the track (including Dale Earnhardt Jr. during the first part of his career), races and events like qualifying, which is why it’s so strange to think that NASCAR doesn’t have an official beer just weeks away from the Daytona 500.

The most recent official beer was Coors Light, which held that honor since 2008. But Sports Business Daily reports that MillerCoors has decided not to renew its multi-million dollar deal despite “last-ditch efforts by NASCAR” to reach an agreement of some kind. That means the pole award will not feature Coors Light in 2018, and potentially any beer sponsor as the award was previously named after Budweiser.

SBD notes that MillerCoors isn’t leaving NASCAR altogether, as Miller Lite will return as a sponsor of Brad Keselowski and his No. 2 Team Penske Ford — though only for 11 races, a smaller commitment than in previous seasons.

Is the departure of MillerCoors at a broader level of racing sponsorship a huge deal? Not necessarily, though the timing isn’t ideal coming this close to the 2018 season. It is, however, emblematic of a trend of big companies feeling that they could be doing something with their marketing dollars other than parading their brands in front of NASCAR fans. It used to be that those race fans were among the best audiences to advertise to and displayed the most loyalty, but now those factors don’t seem to be enough to convince sponsors to stick around.

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Certainly, any company that wants to step up to replace Coors Light will be welcome to do so, and there’s no reason the pole award needs to be named after a beer. But the thought of NASCAR not having an official beer is a strange one, right up there among the more unusual signs of the changing times.