Sprint Fan Vote closes in on 1 million votes at halfway mark

David Ragan, Michael Waltrip sit just outside top 10

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – April 21, 2011 – Sprint (NYSE:S) announced today that voting continues at a record pace in the 2011 Sprint Fan Vote, which allows fans to place a driver into the field of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

In the four weeks since voting began on March 23, NASCAR fans have cast more than 900,000 votes for their favorite Sprint Fan Vote eligible drivers. If voting continues at this pace, the final vote total will eclipse the 1.5 million mark set during last year’s Sprint Fan Vote window.

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, Martin Truex Jr. and Brian Vickers. Although David Ragan and Michael Waltrip are just outside the top 10, a strong voting effort this week by fans of either driver could boost them into the list of top vote recipients.

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 All-Star 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.