Atwood gets Sirius for '02.
Casey Atwood and the No.7 Jim Smith-owned, Ray Evernham operated Ultra Motorsports Winston Cup squad will bear the colours of the Sirius Satellite Radio Company during the 2002 and 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup seasons. The partnership officially debuts at the Daytona 500 in February.
Finally someone has a sponsor. It may be a new sponsor and a young, ambitious company, but it's a sponsor and in these troubled times, that's all that counts.
Casey Atwood and the No.7 Jim Smith-owned, Ray Evernham operated Ultra Motorsports Winston Cup squad will bear the colours of the Sirius Satellite Radio Company during the 2002 and 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup seasons. The partnership officially debuts at the Daytona 500 in February.
Finally someone has a sponsor. It may be a new sponsor and a young, ambitious company, but it's a sponsor and in these troubled times, that's all that counts.
After a stormy, to say the least, two year relationship with NationsRent, vagabond Winston Cup operation Ultra Motorsports (formerly Mattei Motorsports, formerly Geoff Bodine Racing, formerly Alan Kulwicki etc, etc) now owned by Jim Smith and operated, in effect, by Ray Evernham, will bear the colours of the Sirius Satellite Radio Company for the next two NASCAR campaigns.
The No.7 Dodge, which will be driven by NWC sophomore Casey Atwood in 2002 has been one of the few teams to have picked up a primary sponsor during the off-season and although the deal is not amongst one of the biggest in Winston Cup today, it will allow both Atwood and the team some extra leeway in testing and developing the car from what was a midfield runner at best last year into a creditable top-15 outfit in addition to moving from Ford to Dodge.
As part pf the deal, Evernham, Smith and Atwood will all make guest appearances on the Sirius network, which provides over 40 channels of commercial free music, sport and leisure radio programming on a subscription basis.
"I'm anxiously looking forward to Daytona and the unveiling of the No.7 Sirius Dodge Intrepid," commented Atwood, "as well as my debut on Sirius Satellite Radio."
Sirius CEO Joseph Clayton was filled with enthusiasm for his companies first venture into the world of NASCAR. "Sponsoring a NASCAR team is a perfect fir for Sirius as we launch to consumers," said the parent of the eleven-year-old company. "With the veteran experience of Evernham Motorsports and the Dodge racing team, and a bright young driver like Casey, we have a winning combination in place."
Atwood and Ultra are set to begin their three days of testing at the famed Daytona International Speedway on January 14th but are not expected to unveil the teams first Sirius livery until the Winston Cup preview towards the end of the month.
