By Bob Pockrass
Associate Editor
Scenedaily
Friday, June 06, 2008

LONG POND, Pa. – Verizon and Alltel have agreed to a merger, with Verizon likely to drop the Alltel brand. That would complicate the issue for the Penske Racing No. 12 car currently sponsored by Alltel.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Thursday that Verizon cannot re-brand the car because of NASCAR’s contract with Sprint as the sponsor of NASCAR’s premier series. The contract grandfathered in Alltel and Cingular as long as they did not change teams nor brands.

Verizon’s purchase of Alltel is expected to close by the end of the year.

“It's premature to talk about this,” Verizon Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Gerace said in a statement. “Our first priority will be to complete the acquisition, which we hope to do by the end of this year.

“When we do, I'm sure we'll have a good handle on the NASCAR situation. We do intend to change the Alltel brand to Verizon Wireless, but over what time period I can't say.”

AT&T challenged the grandfather clause in federal court after it merged with Cingular and the group wanted to put the AT&T logos on the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing car. That car had carried the Cingular branding. The parties settled last September with NASCAR and Sprint, which allowed AT&T to have its trademark on the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing car through the end of this season.

Verizon is a sponsor with Gillett Evernham Motorsports in the Nationwide Series and could continue that relationship. It sponsors rookie Chase Miller. It can have one of the team’s Sprint Cup drivers in the car for races but cannot use that driver in any promotional material.

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