David Stremme has Verizon colors but no Verizon logos on uniform or car
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR has approved a paint scheme and uniform for Penske Racing’s No. 12 car and driver David Stremme that has the Verizon and Penske red and black colors but neither with the Verizon logo featuring a thin red check.
NASCAR must approve all uniforms and paint schemes, and the Penske team had to go through a more scrutinized process because of the Cup series sponsorship from Sprint. NASCAR is responsible for making sure that none of Sprint’s rivals have branding in the garage, and Verizon, which bought out Penske sponsor Alltel earlier this month, is a sponsor of the organization and has its logos on the Nationwide Series car.
Penske Racing crewmen spent part of Friday morning covering up a little bit of red striping near the front of the car with black strips. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said NASCAR asked for the minor change but the rest of the paint scheme has been approved.
The paint scheme has red striping on the side of a black car. The Penske logo is on the hood and it says Penske on the side of the car.
Stremme showed up at NASCAR Media Day on Thursday with a uniform that was virtually identical to Penske Racing development driver Justin Allgaier with the exception of the Verizon logo with the thin red check mark that adorns Allgaier’s Nationwide Series uniform. But all the other red markings on the suit were similar. Verizon can have its name on the Nationwide car, but not on a Sprint Cup car.
For Budweiser Shootout practice, Stremme had an altered uniform with less red on it and more black that is now acceptable for NASCAR, Poston said.
The crew uniform shirts are also red and black, with a red stripe going up the side and with slanted red stripes along the back.
None of uniforms nor the car has the red check that would make people think of Verizon. The red stripes are at angles but there are no markings in the shape of a check.
Penske Racing officials had said last month that even though Verizon’s logos could not be on the Cup car, that the No. 12 Cup car would not need primary sponsorship at least through 2010 because Verizon had assumed Alltel’s commitment.
When Nextel (now Sprint) signed its sponsorship deal with NASCAR to begin sponsoring the Cup series in 2004, any wireless sponsorships were grandfathered in as long as there was no rebranding and no change in the sponsor-team or sponsor-track alignment.
When AT&T bought Cingular, it sued NASCAR over whether it could change the Cingular logos to AT&T. NASCAR and AT&T settled out of court in September 2007 to allow the AT&T logos through 2008. The company now does not have a car in the sport.
