The NASCAR charter system has been the subject of debate since its introduction in 2016. Basically, NASCAR wanted to franchise all teams/cars running individually so they could collect fees from them as a separate entity. But when the system was introduced, prices hovered in the seven figures, often reaching a few million dollars for each charter.
However, as time passed and charter availability decreased significantly, its prices also increased significantly. To highlight the immense price rise, consider the recent acquisition by Spire Motorsports, which they secured from Live Fast Motorsports for a mind-boggling $40 million.
Clearly, there has been inflation in charter prices. And speaking of this huge inflation of charter prices, some NASCAR Insiders on the Door Bumper Clear podcast recently shared their views on what could have caused the situation to develop to what it is today.
NASCAR Insiders highlights the gargantuan increase in rental prices
During the recent episode of the podcast, this topic came up for discussion. During the conversation, co-host Casey Boat asked the reason for the rise in charter prices over the years.
Afterward, Bubba Wallace watcher Freddie Kraft responded: “Yeah, you know, right now it’s the TV deal on hold. Teams expect to get a bigger piece of the pie and it’s basically like the stock market. This is speculation… I mean, you talked about guys buying charters. for what, like $12-13 million a few years ago?
His colleague Brett Griffin chimed in: “I mean, five or six (million)… I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that Furniture Row (Racing) sold theirs to Spire for $6 million…” He then added that Dale Earnhardt Jr. was not willing to invest $10 million at the time for a charter to allow him to compete in the Cup Series. Griffin then jokingly said: “I bet he would have liked…”
What is Spire Motorsports planning after spending $40 million?
The amount it took the team to purchase a charter was quite significant considering how much these things cost less a few years ago. Now, to obviously justify the price, they’d have to hire someone really good, right?
GOOD, according to NBC Sports, the team recently announced that its 2024 Cup Series signee would be Zane Smith. The reigning Truck Series champion has apparently signed a multi-year contract with the team. Smith was previously associated with Ford, but due to a lack of available Cup or Xfinity Series seats, he made the decision to join Trackhouse Racing and Chevrolet starting in 2024.
Since the Justin Marks-owned team only had two cars with Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez, they formed a partnership with Spire to field a third car, which would allow Smith to compete in the Cup Series.
