AT&T hits a wall in fight with NASCAR

A Federal appeals court today shot down AT&T in its desire to feature its logo on Jeff Burton’s No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week said AT&T lacks standing to challenge NASCAR’s decision and tossed a lower court’s ruling that prevented NASCAR from stopping AT&T’s plans. The appeals court remanded the case to the U.S. District Court in Atlanta for dismissal.  There will be other appeals so this isn’t over. You may recall in May  AT&T outraced NASCAR, in court, getting a  federal judge to  issue an injunction  that  said NASCAR  could not prevent AT&T from featuring its logo on Jeff Burton’s No. 31 car. U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob in Atlanta issued a preliminary injunction barring NASCAR and any entity affiliated with it from interfering with AT&T’s rights as primary sponsor of the car in NASCAR Cup Series races.   The battle began in March when AT&T sued NASCAR because racing group wouldn’t let the telecommunications vendor change the logo on Jeff Burton’s race car. The issue centered on Burton’s No. 31 car, which his sponsored by cell phone service provider Cingular. AT&T recently took ownership of Cingular as part of its recent merger with BellSouth and is eliminating the brand name and it want to change the log on the car.There is still the matter of a $100 million lawsuit NASCAR against the telecommunications giant.  NASCAR is accusing AT&T with interfering with its exclusive sponsorship agreement with rival wireless company Nextel.  According to an Associated Press report the suit asks that NASCAR be granted the right to kick AT&T — and all telecommunications companies other than Nextel — out of its top series in 2008. NASCAR’s suit alleges breach of contract, fraud and misrepresentation, and conspiracy to aid and abet wrongful interference with Nextel.