NASCAR has a right to approve any name change for its top series that might result from a merger between Nextel and Sprint, and the 10-year deal Nextel signed also limits the number of times such a change could happen, a senior Nextel official said Tuesday. Mark Schweitzer, senior vice president of marketing for Nextel and one of the architects of the deal that changed the name of the top series to Nextel Cup, said "veto" would be "too strong of a word" to describe NASCAR's ability to stop another change. "There have to be reasonable reasons for us to request a change and the same for them not to agree," Schweitzer said. "But it would be hard for me to imagine a circumstance where we could not all get comfortable." Schweitzer reiterated that nothing will change for 2005. Approval of the "merger of equals" between Nextel and Sprint is expected to take several months, and until that process is complete, he said, no discussions about marketing and branding decisions will be held. "While the deal anticipated that the name might need to change, there is a restriction on the number of times and on NASCAR's flexibility in doing so," Schweitzer said. "As we look at what the right thing to do for 2006 and beyond, it will come after research with the fans and in the garage."

(ThatsRacin.com)

redriderbob