Sprint Fan Vote Eclipses 1 Million Vote Mark
David Ragan climbs into Top 10, bumps out Martin Truex Jr.
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – April 28, 2011 -Sprint (NYSE:S) announced today that more than 1 million votes have been cast in the 2011 Sprint Fan Vote, which allows fans to place a driver into the field of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
Since the Sprint Fan Vote’s inception in 2004, never before has the 1 million vote milestone been reached this early in the voting window. With more than three weeks still remaining until the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, it’s likely the final tally will exceed last year’s record 1.5 million votes.
The top 10 drivers in the Sprint Fan Vote standings (in alphabetical order) are A.J. Allmendinger, Marcos Ambrose, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brad Keselowski, Bobby Labonte, Joey Logano, Paul Menard, David Ragan and Brian Vickers. After it was announced that Ragan was close to being in the Top 10 last week, his fans stepped up their voting efforts, catapulting him ahead of other eligible drivers. Truex Jr. is now on the outside of the Top 10 looking in, but both he and his race team’s owner, driver Michael Waltrip, can climb back in with a strong voting push from their fans this week.
Voting continues until 5 p.m. (EDT) Saturday, May 21. Fans can cast votes for their favorite eligible drivers by using the NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile application, visiting NASCAR.com or at the Sprint Experience, located in the midway at every NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event. As an incentive for Sprint customers, every wireless vote submitted from a Sprint, Nextel, Boost Mobile or Virgin Mobile device counts double in the driver standings.
To be eligible for the Sprint Fan Vote, drivers must be approved by NASCAR for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition and have met all other eligibility requirements. Those requirements include finishing in the Top 50 of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship point standings; competing in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Event during the 2010 season; or attempting to qualify for the 2011 Daytona 500.
The driver who accumulates the most votes and finishes the Sprint Showdown qualifying race on the lead lap with a car in raceable condition (as determined by NASCAR competition) will earn a spot in the prestigious NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race field.
In addition to voting, fans can also use the NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile application to view the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in its entirety on Sprint devices.
To download the new NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile, which is free with any data plan, Sprint customers should text “NASCAR” to 7777. Votes may also be cast on Sprint devices by texting “VOTE” to 7777 (standard text messaging and data rates apply).
Drivers eligible for the 2011 Sprint Fan Vote:
A.J. Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Marcos Ambrose, Dave Blaney, Mike Bliss, Todd Bodine, Jeff Burton, Patrick Carpentier, Landon Cassill, Kevin Conway, Derrike Cope, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bill Elliott, David Gilliland, Robby Gordon, Sam Hornish Jr., Brad Keselowski, Brian Keselowski, Travis Kvapil, Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Andy Lally, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Casey Mears, Paul Menard, Joe Nemechek, Max Papis, David Ragan, Tony Raines, Robert Richardson, Elliott Sadler, Regan Smith, Reed Sorenson, Scott Speed, David Stremme, Martin Truex Jr., Brian Vickers, Steve Wallace, Michael Waltrip and J.J. Yeley.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 51 million customers at the end of 1Q 2011 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 6 in its 2010 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
