Michael Waltrip Racing Inks Primary Sponsors For ’07 Team

MWR Inks Co-Primary Sponsorships With Domino’s Pizza, Burger King

Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) announced a partnership with Domino’s Pizza and Burger King to be co-primary sponsors of its No. 00 Nextel Cup Toyota in ’07. Domino’s will serve as the primary sponsor from the Daytona 500 through the May race at Darlington Raceway, while Burger King will sponsor the car beginning with the Coca-Cola 600. Each brand will serve as primary sponsor for five of the ten races in the Chase for the Nextel Cup (MWR). Michael Waltrip, who will drive a NAPA-sponsored car, said that the team “could sign another sponsor” for driver Dale Jarrett, giving it three teams for ’07 (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/19).

WILL TOYOTA PLAY FAIR? Ford NA Operations Manager for Racing Technology Greg Specht said of Toyota entering the Nextel Cup Series next season, “NASCAR has done a good job over the past couple of years defining the rules and enforcing them so you can’t spend money to get a competitive advantage with your equipment. However, what we don’t have, for example, are salary caps. And I think it’s more than just a coincidence that with Toyota coming into the series, we’re seeing salaries escalate at geometric proportions, which I don’t think we saw when Dodge came in (at the beginning of 2001). So, I think that dynamic has changed and is a concern for us” (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 6/17).