AT&T, NASCAR Settle $100M Lawsuit

USA Today reports that NASCAR and at&t settled their contentious sponsorship dispute. Bottom Line here in Richmond, the "at&t" logo is back on Jeff Burton's #31 Chevy Impala...and will be until 2008, when the original sponsorship agreement with Richard Childress Racing will expire, and at&t leaves NASCAR's top division. So Bill France's billion dollar estate stays relatively intact, NASCAR makes its point about exclusivity for its series sponsor, at&t gets the benefit of NASCAR eyeballs on its changed cellphone brand (still #1 in subscribers) for the rest of '07 and 2008, Richard Childress Racing gets some time to find another major sponsor, and the sanctioning body gets to stay out of one less courtroom. The only downside is for the litigators who were salivating at some $300/hour or higher legal work. Interesting that the only major print medium working this was USA Today.

Greetings from Watkins Glen International

I've been coming here for some 30 years (with the exception of Desert Shield/Storm and when the track was closed in bankruptcy)...and have seen IMSA Prototypes, Nextel Cup cars, Trans-Am cars, Champ Cars, Super Vees with two young guns named Unser and Andretti--Al Jr. and Michael, endurance racing and Formula One Grands Prix over the short and long courses here. Today and tomorrow, we're here for the 3rd IndyCar series race at this historic facility. The last two were won by Scott Dixon...and he has to be considered a favorite here. In practice, Helio Castroneves was fastest...but they don't pay points or prize money for practice.

We'll post a few snapshots throughout the weekend...

Updated at 5:40 Saturday

Helio Castroneves is the polemeister of the IndyCar series...his fifth pole in ten attempts came after a hot lap of 136.021 miles an hour in "Fast Six" qualifying...the IRL's version of F1
"knockout" where all the slow cars fall out and let the fast cars go for the pole. Castroneves says the Glen's 3.377 mile layout (the full course...not the dumbed down Nextel short course) gives the six lots of opportunities for clean laps. Scott Dixon starts 2nd...he and a gull made contact...the gull got the worst of it. Pointleader Dario Franchitti rolls 3rd...followed by teammate Tony Kanaan.

Sprint Cup and "sprint cars"?

The company formerly known as Sprint/Nextel dropped a shoe at Daytona that everyone expected...the name of the NASCAR series they sponsor will now be known as the Sprint Cup starting in 2008. So I suppose that the full fendered "winged wonders" will now be known as "Sprint cars"? Maybe that Car of Tomorrow wing can grow as large as the ones on the back of World Of Outlaws cars.

Enough. See you tomorrow.