Childress could lose sponsorship for No 31 team
Quote selected text Published September 3rd, 2007 in NASCAR News
Richard Childress said on Sunday at California Speedway, that he could be in danger of losing sponsorship for the #31 car if the lawsuit between AT&T and NASCAR/Sprint goes the wrong way.
“If they would go away, we definitely could, they couldn’t afford to stay in (the sport) to run a blank car. It’s all up to Sprint to make the decision. It’s in Sprint’s hands. NASCAR is being controlled by what Sprint is going to let them do. The sad part of it is, the money AT&T spends with Richard Childress Racing, they will spend three times as much in media, FOX, ESPN, newspapers, magazines, and everything else they do — they’ll spend millions of dollars promoting their products and in that product, they are helping to promote our sport. It’s just sad to see it where it is. If they (AT&T) get beat and end up having to leave, naturally we’re going to lose them. Not only will RCR have a loss — but the sport will lose. Again, it’s in Sprint’s hands.”
- Childress to decide on 4th Cup team soon
- Childress likely to stay with 3 teams in 2008
- Childress nearing deadline for 4th Nextel Cup team
- RCR wants AT&T to stay in NASCAR beyond ‘08, NASCAR doesn’t
- MLB owner considering NASCAR investment
What’s up with Nascar?
Why worry its Jeff Burton, there was a line for sponsers a long time ago.
Why did NASCAR sign an exclusive contract with Sprint/Nextel anyway? How did they not see the pimp and prostitute aspect of that relationship coming a mile away? I bet it’s great for Sprint’s ego to watch an organization like NASCAR bow down and give in to their every whim. I hope NASCAR puts a little more thought into these contracts in the morning, and that they learn from their mistakes!
Man, Jeff can’t catch a break. I hope he goes on to win the championship.
NASCAR has always done this, it’s nothing new. When they first got Winston as a sponsor years ago, there were stipulations that no other rival cigarette brands could be fielded by anyone other than R.J. Reynold’s tobacco. For anyone that wants to point out “Camel” on the #23 Travis Carter car years ago, well… Camel was owned by R.J.R. which owns Winston. No brainer there. There was even a discussion a few years ago by Rusty Wallace, while driving for Penske, on how cool it’d be to drive a Marlboro sponsored/liveried car in Winston Cup; but he noted he couldn’t due to the exclusive contract NASCAR had with R.J. Reynolds (Marlboro = Phillip Morris).
If Sprint owned AT&T, there’d be no hubbub. The funny and sad deal is that it’s not really a company change, but just a change in company name. Sprint bought Nextel after the sponsorship deal they inked with NASCAR, they’re allowed to change theirs as we will see happen in 2008. If AT&T had kept the Cingular name for their wireless division, they’d still be grandfathered in to use the Cingular brand name in Cup. Needless to say, Sprint… rather than have a competing brand going against them in their own namesake series, would prefer to just cut them out and make everyone think they’re the only brand in existence when you watch a Cup broadcast. For the $ they’ve invested into Cup… it’s hard to argue that they shouldn’t have their own say, even if it’s a little disingenious for NASCAR’s overall health with their teams and seemingly anti-competitive. If NASCAR signed exclusive contracts for everything their teams wouldn’t have a pot to pee in. The amount of drama surrounding all of this has to be wearing thin on everyone.
It’s a shame it has come to this.
This isn’t the first time this has happened to Jeff Burton. When he use to drive for Jack Roush in the #99 he couldn’t get a long term sponsor to come aboard. He finally found Crown Royal who was willing to pay the tab, but Nascar slam the door on that deal because they claimed they wouldn’t allow a hard liquor sponsor because of the family atmosphere….yet a month or two after he was forced to release Jeff to go drive for RCR, Nascar had taken on the very same hard liquor sponsorship and was flying their banners at the tracks.