Lone Star Steakhouse cuts ties with No. 40

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- On the eve of the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, Chip Ganassi Racing crewmen were busy Friday removing all traces of Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon sponsorship from David Stremme's No. 40 car and equipment.

Ganassi's Web site no longer displays the brand as part of its sponsorship package.

North Carolina-based Lone Star Steakhouse, which owns and operates more than 250 restaurants under a variety of names, was acquired by Dallas-based private equity firm Lone Star Funds for about $586 million in December.

The new owners looked at the balance sheet and apparently noticed that Lone Star Steakhouse had spent $1.39 million on its NASCAR sponsorship just in the third quarter of 2006 alone -- and a total of $4.3 million in total sponsorship costs. However, sales were down 9.4 percent during the same time frame, which may have led to the decision to end the association with the team.

The publicly-owned restaurant chain shared primary sponsorship of the No. 40 Dodge with Coors Light in 2006, and was featured in 17 races.

Coors Light is listed as the official sponsor for next Sunday's Daytona 500.