Too many big-buck sponsors not making into races? Just expand fields to 70 cars and build some Uberspeedways... (LAT Photo) » More Photos

In 2008, Sam Hornish Jr. will join Penske Racing South's ranks, followed one year later by teammate Helio Castroneves. Also in '08, Dario Franchitti will get a ride with Richard Childress, while it'll take another year at the most before Chip Ganassi partners Dan Wheldon with JPM. Unlike Wheldon, Scott Dixon has never openly expressed interest in NASCAR, but given that his rivals for a Cup seat with the Chipster would be Reed Sorenson and David Stremme, he can get one anytime he wants.

Presented with such a scenario, Andretti Green Racing's honchos wouldn't waste time forging a partnership with an established Cup team, much like Newman/Haas/Lanigan has done with Robert Yates Racing. So it's so long also to Tony Kanaan and one of the apples of NASCAR's eyes, Danica Patrick (and to Marco Andretti too, if his F1 aspirations come to nothing).

Speaking of F1 aspirations, Sebastien Bourdais' own with Toro Rosso could very well – though we hope not – achieve underwhelming results. So the Frenchman would head back stateside to drive for Newman/Haas/Lanigan/Yates/Sagman/Bennett/Robbins/Oppenheim & Taft, and be the real-world incarnation of Jean Girard, Sacha Baron Cohen's character in Talladega Nights.

Of course, all of those open-wheel guys would be vying for spots with the good ol' boys coming up through stock car's own development ranks. Couple that with a continuous obsession of Corporate America with all things NASCAR – stagnant or declining attendances and TV ratings notwithstanding – and what you have is an aggravation of a scenario already under full-swing circa 2007: simply, way too much money in the Cup paddock, more than the series' current tracks and rules can absorb. As of today, a series of big-dollar companies are forking out millions a year to not even be on a Cup race's field more often than not.

Could there be room for 70 cars in the Brickyard field? (LAT photo) » More Photos

The next logical step for NASCAR's insatiable money-sucking machine, then, would be to expand fields to, say, 70 cars – why not? All it would take would be the construction of a few new four-mile uberspeedways (with Seattle and Staten Island leading the race to receive the first ones) and, voila, everybody's happy by the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

As for open-wheel racing? Not all will be lost: Yearly, the Sprint Cup will feature an event with special "historic" stock cars deprived of fenders in order to celebrate the ancient tradition of single-seater racing – though most fans on the stands won't really remember what that was, courtesy of NASCAR's usual 1984 approach to racing history – called the "Indianapolis 500".

Its crowds will be smaller than the IMS's biggest event by then, the Burger King in Association with Sony Present the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Monster Energy Drink and Fueled by Shell, but some of us subversive purists will still attend it anyway. And do our best to conceal our tears when the "thunder" blows by in front of the Pagoda.

Cassio Cortes is a Senior Writer for RACER magazine.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SpeedTV.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel