Sprint could be sold; NASCAR not commenting

Sprint, which announced last December that it had extended its sponsorship of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series through 2016, is in discussions to sell a majority of the company’s stock to Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank.

Sprint confirmed the talks in a news release Thursday.“Sprint today confirmed that it is currently engaged in discussions with SoftBank regarding a potential substantial investment by SoftBank in Sprint," the company said in a statement. “Although there can be no assurances that these discussions will result in any transaction or on what terms any transaction may occur, such a transaction could involve a change of control of Sprint."

According to The New York Times, SoftBank is in discussions to buy 70 percent of the company for $12.5 billion.

NASCAR officials had no immediate comment Friday on how a possible sale of the company could impact its partnership with Sprint.

If Sprint is sold, it would mark the second time that NASCAR’s premier series sponsor was sold since Nextel took over for Winston in 2004. Sprint bought Nextel in 2005 and assumed the original 10-year sponsorship deal that went through 2013. Sprint renamed the Nextel Cup Series to the Sprint Cup Series in 2008.

Sprint announced an extension of that deal last year.