AT&T Could Be on Jeff Burton's Ride This Weekend

The dispute between AT&T (formerly Cingular) reached a new level today as AT&T filed an injunction in U.S. District Court to put AT&T logos on the #31 Richard Childress Racing Chevy this weekend at Martinsville Speedway

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The request comes during the preliminary stages of the legal battle between AT&T and NASCAR, with AT&T fighting to be allowed by the sanctioning body to run an AT&T scheme on Jeff Burton's car.

NASCAR is holding out because of their Nextel sponsorship that forbids any new wireless carriers or from the current ones changing names or teams. It's in the contract.

So what's AT&Ts deal then? Do they really think that they are going to win this battle?

I just don't see it happening. This is like Coca-Cola trying to sell its product at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Do they really think they can get away with it?

Nextel is paying for the rights, not AT&T. Is there a discrepancy that I'm missing?

and tallglassofmilk adds ...

AT&T concedes that their contract with Childress' team contains provisions the Cingular can't increase the size or placement of its logo on the car. But AT&T insists that the contract does not contain language preventing a logo change if Cingular's ownership structure changes.

NASCAR, the Official Hypocrite of NASCAR, better be learning a valuable lesson about Offiicial sponsors of NASCAR. For starters, how about leaving exclusivity out of the deal? That seems only logical for a sport reliant upon sponsors.