CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — After Tyler Reddick battled stomach virus throughout Southern 500 To earn a one-point victory over Kyle Larson for the NASCAR regular-season championship, he and ownership group 23XI Racing went after the trophy.
Reddick stood next to the trophy, with team co-owner Michael Jordan at his side. Co-owners Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk were on the other side. Not to be found? A NASCAR executive to present the material.
“You know, certainly, I’m pretty disappointed that nobody from NASCAR is going to give Tyler his trophy,” Hamlin said.
Was it personal? He didn’t know, but he couldn’t remember another time when a NASCAR bigwig wasn’t there handing out brand-new equipment.
As the 10-race playoffs begin Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR and its teams have been locked in a years-long dispute over expanding the franchise system at the heart of the business. The teams want a bigger share of revenue, a seat at the negotiating table and charters — which guarantee a seat in any Cup Series race and therefore a share of the purse — that become permanent.
Every offer made to the teams has been deemed unacceptable. It turns out that Polk — who helped Jordan become one of the world’s most recognizable celebrities — is the unofficial leader of the teams’ resistance, whose charters expire at the end of the year.
NASCAR presented a new proposal to the teams, and it was clear that Polk was not impressed: He pinned a piece of paper to the back of his T-shirt that read: “Please don’t ask me about my charter. I don’t want to disparage NASCAR and lose it.”
Hamlin said Polk carried the sign out of “frustration” and indicated major concessions will have to be made to bring the teams and NASCAR closer to an agreement.
“It’s going to take one side waking up and being reasonable. That’s all,” he said. Asked which side should make concessions, Hamlin was blunt: “Not ours.”
What is a charter?
There are currently 36 charters in NASCAR that field a 40-car field each week in the top-tier Cup Series. A charter guarantees all 36 cars entry into all 38 races each season, as well as a portion of the television package and purses based on the value of each team’s charter.
Four charters remain pending at NASCAR, earmarked for a future manufacturer that could join Chevrolet, Ford or Toyota in the Cup Series. A NASCAR proposal this summer suggested that those charters should be awarded to NASCAR and that the France family who run the series should be able to set up teams.
Hamlin said on his weekly podcast that NASCAR’s latest proposal included an anti-disparagement clause.
“They don’t want you to talk negatively. It’s a new addition to the charter agreement,” Hamlin said on “Actions Detrimental.” “NASCAR has their position and the teams have their position. We’ll just see where it goes in the next few weeks.”
The most recent charters were signed in 2015 and are valid through the end of the year, when the current television contracts expire. Negotiations have been ongoing for more than two years, with the teams agreeing to let NASCAR negotiate a new media contract first so the teams have a clear idea of how much money they will be paid.
“I think for a long, long time NASCAR has said this is our family business and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to be in it,” Hamlin said. “I think the world has changed since that mentality was established a long, long time ago by Bill France Sr. and while I certainly respect everything they’ve built and the fact that they’ve done a good job, at some point you have to update your thinking or you’re going to hold the sport back.”
Frustration is rising
Hamlin is the only driver/owner willing to speak publicly about the conflict. Brad Keselowski is part owner of RFK Racing, but team principal Steve Newmark is handling the negotiations. Trackhouse Racing’s Justin Marks is part of the new crop of young drivers, but Hamlin usually answers all the questions.
Hamlin said he believes NASCAR deliberately dragged its feet in negotiations so that smaller teams would panic and sign whatever NASCAR offered them.
“There’s probably a handful of teams that are just happy to take whatever deal they can get, and there are others with some business acumen that say it’s not reasonable,” Hamlin said.
So the biggest teams are responding. As NASCAR shoots footage for a second season on Netflix, teams have made it clear they won’t license images or likenesses of their brand without a charter agreement. NASCAR, for its part, has said teams can’t use its brand for promotional materials.
Hamlin noted that “right now, NASCAR owns this and the teams own that, and we’re competing for the same sponsors.”
“We’re just competing with each other instead of coming together and growing the sport together,” he said. “I think until we do that, we’re going to keep going in circles.”
What’s next?
No one really knows what will happen when the charters expire at the end of the year.
Hamlin said he doesn’t know how NASCAR can legally repossess a charter from a team that not only bought it but also met all the performance requirements to keep it for the full term of the current contracts. He thinks NASCAR could be in for a surprise if it starts seizing charters and heads into 2025 without a deal.
“I think it’s more of a frustration with the lack of recognition that the teams built this sport. (Rick) Hendrick and (Joe) Gibbs put superstars on the race track, that’s what built the sport,” Hamlin said. “Fans don’t come to see cars go around in circles. If they did, we would have sold out ARCA races, but they don’t. They come to sell out Sundays to see Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch.
“So who provides them with the cars? And it’s the teams. Who spends the money? It’s the teams. Which sponsors buy a suite? It’s the teams. Which sponsors activate their activities in the stadiums? It’s the teams,” he said. “That’s the hardest part, they don’t value us.”
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