Gordon loses another Cup sponsor

Robby Gordon has lost his second primary sponsor for his Nextel Cup team in as many weeks. Gordon had obtained a partial sponsorship, including this weekend’s race at Atlanta, from Motorola but NASCAR refused to allow Gordon to keep the sponsor decals on the hood of his No. 7 Ford Friday because of a conflict with series sponsor Sprint Nextel. They can be an associate sponsor, but not a primary.

Although Motorola has a relationship with Sprint Nextel, it was through Motorola’s relationship with wireless competitor Verizon that the sponsorship deal was made.

“It’s going to have an effect on our race team. I didn’t anticipate anything like this, I can promise you that," Gordon said. “NASCAR has tried to work with us on this. Supposedly this has to do with NASCAR’s deal with Nextel and there is something there which will not allow this to happen.

"I'm having a hard time understanding how Nextel and Motorola are competitors because that's the reason we can't use the sponsorship," Gordon said. "They have been an associate sponsor on my car for the first three events, and they can remain as an associate sponsor on my car; they just can't be a primary sponsor on my car.

It's a NASCAR decision, yes," Gordon said. "This is the first time I have ever been involved in something like this. I've never been told no [on] a sponsor because we never felt we've gone after a sponsor that wouldn't be approved. I didn't even imagine that Motorola wouldn't be approved. They're the official radio of everybody in the garage area. It's just mind-boggling, and I'm having a little bit of a hard time on it."