NASCAR expects ATT off of No. 31 car

UPDATE ESPN’s Marty Smith reported on NASCAR Now that the No. 31 car will not have the AT&T logo on it this weekend for the Sharpie 500 at Bristol. The car “will be an orange and black paint scheme that was like their previous paint scheme, the Cingular paint scheme, … but there will be no logos on the hood or back deck lid or Jeff Burton’s driver suit or the team’s uniforms."

08/23/07 With NASCAR expects the AT&T logos to be removed from the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing car for the Nextel Cup events this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a mandate Tuesday that its decision be followed that NASCAR is not legally required to allow the AT&T logos on the car driven by Jeff Burton, NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Tuesday night.

The appellate court also clarified its Aug. 13 ruling that the logo issue return to U.S. District Court in Atlanta for consideration of other legal issues other than breach of contract, Poston said.

AT&T had won the injunction on breach of contract grounds as U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Shoob ruled May 18 that NASCAR's grandfather clause in its licensing agreement that gives RCR a car number allowed for the Cingular logos to be changed to AT&T following their December 2006 merger.

But the appellate court ruled that because the grandfather clause (enacted in 2004 when Nextel became the primary sponsor of the Cup series) was designed to benefit RCR and not necessarily Cingular, that AT&T could not sue under breach of contract grounds.

Court documents indicate that AT&T plans to ask the district court to consider another injunction under the premise that NASCAR's actions indicated that a logo change was permissible and therefore it's an injustice that they cannot change them. Scenedaily.com