AT&T (NYSE: T) announced yesterday that the company has been given the legal go-ahead to rebrand its NASCAR-sponsored car. The #31 Chevrolet featured the Cingular name and brand on its panels since 2001 when the company began its sponsorship of the Richard Childress Racing team. The phone service was created by BellSouth and AT&T in 2001 and with AT&T's purchase of BellSouth last year, AT&T initiated the rebranding.

Jeff Burton, a Virginia-native and driver of the #31 car, currently sits at #5 in the Nextel Cup championship points and debuted with new decals on his car last weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. The former Cingular Wireless decals were replaced with AT&T's globe image. The orange color of Cingular remains.

Over the weekend, when the judgment was made, AT&T's stock remained roughly the same and closed at $24.95 on Tuesday. Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) rose early in the week, despite the "new" sponsor in the NASCAR series it sponsors, closing at $21.46 on Tuesday. With AT&T holding such a high position in the point standings of the Nextel series, this may be a massive blow to the rights Sprint Nextel seemed to hold on wireless service promotion in the series. The race broadcasts have always featured Cingular text polls though, which seem to overshadow the $700 million, ten-year deal Nextel made with NASCAR in 2003.