The 31 Team can Keep Their Present Sponsor

Great news for Jeff Burton, Richard Childress Racing and the 31 team:

AT&T can appear on Burton car through 2008! AT&T will be allowed to sponsor the NASCAR Nextel Cup car through 2008 but must come off after next season, said David Garver, AT&T executive director of business development and wireless sponsorship. As part of the agreement, NASCAR agreed to drop the $100 million countersuit against AT&T.

It's short term ( a one year extension) but it doesn't leave the 31 team in the lurch.

scenedaily

Another AT & T twist

Cingular / AT & T signed a multi year deal with the Childress 31 car, and Jeff Burton has also signed a contract extension.

RCRacing

Now that's showing some faith in the system all around!!

NASCAR counter sues AT & T

We knew it was only a matter of time, and here it is.

NASCAR filed a countersuit against AT&T, claiming financial damag by Cingular's placement of the AT&T logos on the No. 31 car.

In a twist of twists, NASCAR is asking the court to issue an order allowing it to deny any telecommunications company other than Nextel, including Cingular and Alltel, the right to compete as a primary sponsor in its Cup series starting in the 2008 season.

So they go from defending what seemed like a rock solid contractual issue, and now they're adding a twist to the game that is going to hurt a 3rd party that is only technically, part of the process.

Last month, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting NASCAR from standing in the way of AT&T changing the Cingular decals on Burton's No. 31 Chevrolet after AT&T acquired the company. That case is still pending in federal district court.

See Thatsracin.com for the entire article.

SUNOCO BEING SILLY???

Sunoco is considering legal action against Shell to try and have Shell take down all their Kevin Harvick Banners at it's 15,000 gas stations. (Give it up Sunoco, anyone who's slapped money down on a car, can slap that driver on their product. OK, so Shell service stations might be a bit of a stretch, seeing as how the Shell lubricant is the technical sponsor. That's their gimme in this whole situation, the fuel division of Shell is not the sponsor.. funny huh, because that's all I see when I see that car...)

AT&T is mad at NASCAR and NEXTEL (Soon to be SPRINT) for not letting them change their brand name on the 31 car. (Come on people, it's a name change, not a new company... sort of. Show some security in your business model!)

This was just one in a few points made at the beginning of this article.