March 24, 2007
- Burton hopes for resolution soon with AT&T suit: #31-Jeff Burton says his Richard Childress Racing team can’t wait long for a resolution to its AT&T lawsuit against NASCAR. That’s why he’s keenly awaiting to see if AT&T will get the injunction it’s asking for to be allowed to put the AT&T logos on the car in place of Cingular. AT&T and Cingular merged earlier this year, and AT&T is phasing out the Cingular brand. AT&T wants to put its logos on the #31 Nextel Cup car, but NASCAR has said that conflicts with NASCAR’s sponsorship agreement with Nextel. No hearings have yet been set in AT&T’s request for a temporary injunction as well as a permanent injunction for it to be allowed to remain as a Cup sponsor. NASCAR has not yet responded to the lawsuit, which was filed March 16 in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. “It can’t linger,” Burton said Friday. “An injunction will have a much quicker decision than a regular court case, and then it still will go to court later. … If AT&T is told it can’t come back, then we have people that we have to feed, people that have house payments and have a life they have to live and they have to be paid. We can’t be caught in the position of not having sponsorship going into ’08. And if AT&T raised their hand and say, ‘We’re going to get out and fight it later,’ they might not ever be able to get back in.” When NASCAR negotiated a 10-year deal with Nextel in 2003 worth an estimated, $700-$750 million, it grandfathered in Cingular but not AT&T. The Cingluar sponsorship was set to run out at the end of the year, and AT&T wants to renew but must now wait for the courts.(SceneDaily.com)(3-24-2007)
- Next race for Chevy engine at Texas: Richard Childress Racing likely won’t attempt to run the new Chevrolet engine until next month at Texas. #33-Scott Wimmer failed to qualify using that motor at Atlanta last week. The team plans an endurance test of at least 500 miles on the engine at Kentucky Speedway before Texas.(Roanoke Times)(3-24-2007)
- Next race for Almirola is RIR: In addition to a 14-race Busch schedule, #80-Aric Almirola will attempt to qualify for four Cup races this season, the next coming at Richmond International Raceway in May. He made his Cup debut in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 two weeks ago at Las Vegas, where he qualified 31st and finished 41st.(Roanoke Times)(3-24-2007)
- McCumbee racing at Lakeland: UPDATE: The Truck Series is off next week and won’t be running again until the March 31st event at Martinsville Speedway. Chad McCumbee [#08] will be in a racecar this weekend as he heads down to USA International Speedway to take part in the ARCA RE/MAX Series event on Saturday March 24th. He will be driving the #62 Andy Belmont Motorsports Chevy.(arcaracing.com)(3-23-2007)
UPDATE: Engine problems sidelined McCumbee on lap 47.(3-24-2007)
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