AT&T, NASCAR and Sprint apparently have settled the lawsuit involving the primary sponsorship logos on the #31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. With NASCAR approval, the AT&T logos were being put on the car of Jeff Burton on Friday afternoon at Richmond International Raceway. Details of the settlement were not immediately released.
NASCAR expects the AT&T logos to be removed from the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing car for the Nextel Cup events this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a mandate Tuesday that its decision to be followed that NASCAR is not legally required to allow the AT&T logos on the Jeff Burton car, NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Tuesday night.
Rusty Wallace told ESPN on Monday that he turned down an offer to drive for Richard Childress Racing next year. “I’m retired and am a broadcaster now,” the ESPN motorsports analyst said. Foxsports.com reported Monday that Wallace “still has the bug” and that Richard Childress Racing was interested in hiring him to drive for the team in 2008. “Rusty Wallace is not an option for our fourth Cup team. He is not on our list,” Richard Childress told ESPN on Monday. “There was never anything that went anywhere with trying to do anything with him. We never went down that road.” Wallace, who retired from racing in 2005.
A three-judge panel from the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday unanimously overturned a temporary injunction that has allowed AT&T logos on the No. 31 Chevrolet driven by Jeff Burton. Since AT&T has up to five days to ask the court to reconsider, it is not clear whether the logos will be on Burton’s car this weekend at Michigan.
Joe Gibbs Racing still hasn’t announced whether it will switch to Toyotas next year, but the buzz is that it will. Tony Stewart’s souvenir trailers were selling merchandise at 50% off regular price last week at the Brickyard, Stewart’s home track and a place where the Hoosier native is wildly popular.
A source at Richard Childress Racing said it has been approached by Hall of Fame Racing, a satellite Gibbs team, about buying engines from the newly merged RCR-Dale Earnhardt Inc., engine operation in 2008. Presumably, HOF is hedging its bets, if it ends up not being part of a Gibbs move to Toyota.
Kyle Busch has been in talks with Richard Childress Racing about driving in the Busch Series in 2008, which probably means RCR would be the front runner for Busch in a Cup Series ride.
One day after NASCAR made a legal request for permission to remove AT&T from the Nextel Cup series in 2008, AT&T made a strong statement it plans to stick around. AT&T announced it has exercised an option for a three-year extension with Richard Childress Racing to remain the primary sponsor of Jeff Burton’s No. 31 car through the 2010 season. Financial terms were not announced. Burton, meanwhile, has agreed on a contract extension with RCR.
Cingular and Alltel had previous sponsorship deals which thus far have been protected by the courts. U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob issued a preliminary injunction last month that allowed the Cingular logos on Burton’s Chevrolet to be changed to AT&T markings. Shoob also barred NASCAR and any entity affiliated with it from interfering with AT&T’s rights as primary sponsor of the car in the Nextel Cup series. On Sunday, NASCAR asked for a minimum of $100 million in damages in a counter claim against AT&T Inc. The suit also asks that NASCAR be granted the right to kick AT&T - and all telecommunications companies other than Nextel - out of its top series in 2008.
Continue reading AT&T, Jeff Burton Sign Extensions With RCR
Car owner Richard Childress was unable to sign Dale Earnhardt, Jr., but his team is hardly hurting as is. The car owner said Saturday that like a lot of car owners in the garage, he’s very interested in talking with newly minted free agent Kyle Busch, possibly for a long-rumored fourth Richard Childress Racing car.
Jeff Burton thinks Richard Childress Racing will add a fourth Nextel Cup Series team in 2008, citing recent discussion about the subject. “Obviously we can’t divulge what’s on our minds but we have some exciting things that could happen.” Burton wouldn’t divulge details. The addition isn’t a no-brainer, Burton said. He was quick to point out the negatives of adding another program: 25 percent more challenges, 25 percent more problems. The chief benefit of adding a fourth team is the additional knowledge added to the resource pool.
A US District Court Judge in Atlanta ruled last week that Nascar could not interfere with AT&T’s rights as primary sponsor of Richard Childress Racing’s #31 car in NASCAR Cup Series. As expected, NASCAR Nextel Cup series sponsor Sprint Nextel has joined the legal battle on NASCAR’s side, as it hopes to have the AT&T decision overturned on appeal.