RacingOne Staff
Posted Friday, May 18, 2007

NASCAR has requested and has been granted a hearing to stay today's decision.

U.S. District Court Judge Marvin H. Shoob ruled earlier today that NASCAR cannot prevent AT&T from re-branding the No. 31 Cingular Chevrolet driven by Jeff Burton after issuing a preliminary injunction.

However, NASCAR has requested and has been granted a hearing by Shoob to stay today’s decision. The hearing will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning. If the judge grants the stay, then the No. 31 car will remain with its current branding.

The issue has become a hotly debated topic as Nextel, primary sponsor of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, has exclusive rights in the telecommunications arena within the top series. As a result, no other telecommunications company could broker deals to sponsor cars and/or events for the series except for Cingular and Alltel, which had deals in place with RCR and Penske Racing respectively prior to the agreement by NASCAR and Nextel (which has since then become Sprint Nextel Corp.).

Cingular, which first began sponsoring the RCR No. 31 back in 2001, was founded as a joint venture between AT&T and BellSouth, with AT&T holding majority ownership of the company. In December 2006, AT&T acquired the remainder of Cingular when it purchased Bellsouth.

Ever since the completion of the purchase, NASCAR has prevented the newly established AT&T Mobility division from re-branding the Richard Childress Racing No. 31 machine since the grandfather agreement was done with Cingular, not AT&T.

"Sprint Nextel has been committed to enhancing the NASCAR fan experience in many ways, including increasing the points fund payout and developing cutting-edge technology and services for the betterment of the fans, teams and the sport All of this was possible through the exclusivity granted to us as the series sponsor from NASCAR also grants us protection from other telecommunications competitors infringing on our sponsorship rights," said Dean Kessel, director of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series marketing for Sprint Nextel. "The merger that created the new AT&T means their brand now represents a much broader and more comprehensive company than the Cingular brand, which was allowed to retain its existing brand position with the racing team."

AT&T initially filed suit on March 16 after NASCAR denied the company’s request to include the AT&T logos on the rear quarter panels of the No. 31 car as they tried to transition their customers and fans to the AT&T brand.

Judge Shoob contends in his ruling that "The continued appearance of the Cingular brand on the No. 31 car, unaccompanied by any indication that Cingular now does business as AT&T, is likely to confuse NASCAR fans."

In order to reach his conclusion, the Sporting News reports that AT&T had to satisfy four criteria: 1) a substantial likelihood of success (in the lawsuit) on the merits; 2) a substantial threat of irreparable harm if the injunction were not granted; 3) that the potential injury to AT&T outweighed the potential hardship to NASCAR; and 4) that the granting of the injuction would not be adverse to the public interest.

If NASCAR’s Saturday morning request is denied, they will seek an emergency stay from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday. However, AT&T logos would be allowed to adorn the No. 31 Chevrolet immediately.

"I am really happy for AT&T that we are going to be able to re-brand our car to AT&T and carry on. We want to get back to really trying to win this championship. It's a great day for RCR and AT&T," said team owner Richard Childress. "Hopefully, if everything works well, we will have them on there tomorrow night."

As expected, AT&T officials are equally as happy with the judge’s decision.

"We are pleased that the court has allowed us to proceed with re-branding the No. 31 car," said John Burbank, AT&T vice president of Marketing, in a statement to the media. "We look forward to the debut of the new paint scheme and to directing our focus back to the action on the track and to Jeff Burton's fantastic start to the 2007 season."

For their part, NASCAR executives are disappointed by Shoob’s ruling.

"Today’s ruling is limited to the facts of this particular case and does not have broad implications," a NASCAR release stated. "NASCAR will continue to provide a sponsor friendly environment for the industry and its partners and will protect the industry from actions designed to interrupt a business model which has been beneficial to all," NASCAR said in a statement.

The sanctioning body will continue to explore all options.

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