It's difficult to fault NASCAR driver Jeff Burton for announcing last week he'd agreed to jump from a sponsor-less Roush Racing to Richard Childress's flush Chevrolet team -- especially after the stock car veteran spent many a sleepless night this season wondering if the next race would be his last.

After going without major sponsor backing since November, Burton spent one final weekend in the Roush Racing Ford at Watkins Glen, N.Y., where he finished 12th. On Sunday, he will hit the Michigan International Speedway in his new ride.

"Not having a sponsor was a huge distraction," Burton said. "Competitors will use any tactic possible to gain an advantage and we had to do a tremendous amount of work to keep the team from believing the scuttlebutt in the garage.

"We had countless employees come in the garage saying another team had offered them a job and they should take it because the No. 99 team was going to fold in a few days anyway."

The move to Childress comes weeks after NASCAR refused to allow Roush to bring British liquor giant Diageo's Crown Royal brand into the sport as a title sponsor.

It was a difficult pill for Burton to swallow, especially since the arrival of Crown Royal would have put the outfit back on solid ground and rewarded employees for the confidence and loyalty they showed the team this season.

"If NASCAR takes the position that having a product -- whatever that product is -- isn't in the best interest of the sport and its fans, then, if that has merit and a reasonable argument about it, I'm not going to bash them," Burton said.

"But they need to make sure they look at the whole picture and understand the whole story about any sponsor. We disagreed with their decision, but we respected it."

While NASCAR said it understood the sponsorship situation with the No. 99 entry, it was unlikely it would change its long-standing policy against hard liquor advertising, which dates back to the days of dry states in the southern United States.

NASCAR allows its drivers to compete in the International Race of Champions series, which has title sponsorship from Crown Royal. Whisky brand Jim Beam sponsors Andretti Green Racing driver Dan Wheldon in the Indy Racing League.

The No. 99 team did find stop-gap "associate" sponsors for a number of races in soft drink maker Coca-Cola and weed-killer Round-Up, but the money coming in wasn't enough to pay the bills. Instead, team owner Jack Roush paid the difference, something that made his decision to move a difficult one, Burton said.

"Essentially, we spent money as if we had it, and we didn't slow down in the things we needed to do. We all made sacrifices to keep it going but certainly the biggest was by Jack Roush," he said.

"His willingness to keep the team going gave me confidence but, at the same time, it infuriated me that Jack Roush had to do it. I'm considered to be a spokesperson for the sport and it was humiliating not to have a sponsor."

Roush Racing lost its primary sponsor for the No. 99 car when oil company Citgo ended its support after the 2003 season.

Burton's situation has many in the NASCAR paddock worried about the future of the sport because he isn't an unknown driver struggling to gain recognition.

"It's unbelievable and it concerns me. I think it's a real issue in the sport because the car owners put up a lot and really have a huge risk and there's nothing to maintain the value of that team without being totally reliant on sponsors," four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon said.

"A team like [Burton's] is asking for more money than one at the back, so sometimes it's harder to find a sponsor for that budget. But it's a concern because that team has been very successful and there's no reason why it shouldn't have a sponsor."

In the past eight years, Burton has 17 wins and has finished in the top five in the overall drivers' standings five times.

Burton's departure may signal that the end is not too far off for the No. 99 car, something that might not reflect too positively on the series as a whole, Gordon said.

Roush also runs Nextel Cup cars driven by Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin and Greg Biffle. All four have sponsors.

Burton's troubles underlined a difficult season for Roush, which eliminated its lower-tier Busch series team due to a lack of sponsors.

"I used to think that all the problems we had were around competition and now I understand that they can be bigger," Burton said. "I now have a much better appreciation for value of sponsorship and the business side of our sport.

"I think this was an eye-opener for many drivers and I had drivers coming up to me all the time and saying: 'If you, in the situation you are in, can't get sponsorship, then that means I might not be able to either.'

"I think it changed a lot of people's views of their level of security and safety from a financial standpoint within this sport."