The AP is reporting that Sen. Obama has declined to sponsor the 49 car. An excerpt:
BAM’s choice of drivers and car brands might have been a little too sticky politically for the Obama camp.
The car, a Toyota – the only foreign automaker racing in NASCAR – would be driven by veteran Ken Schrader.
According to the Federal Election Commission’s Web site, Schrader gave $1,000 to the campaign of North Carolina Republican congressman Robin Hayes in June 2004, and a total of $2,500 in 2003 and 2004 to the failed Virginia congressional campaign of Republican Kevin Triplett, a former NASCAR official.
Also according to the FEC, Mrs. Ann Schrader of Concord, N.C. and Ken Schrader Racing donated a total of $2,000 to President Bush’s campaign in May 2004 and $900 to the North Carolina Republican Executive Committee in August 2004.