SONOMA, California (AP) NASCAR escaped a public relations headache last week by granting Kyle Larson a waiver to compete in the playoffs despite missing the Coca-Cola 600. That gesture of goodwill did not make things easy at Sonoma Raceway over the weekend, as teams remained dissatisfied with NASCAR’s glacial pace in reaching a new charter agreement.
Several team owners told The Associated Press that NASCAR’s most recent proposal, issued nearly two weeks ago, was one of the worst proposals yet from the stock car series sanctioning body.
Among the complaints: The France family, which owns NASCAR as a private company, still won’t budge on making the charters permanent, the series made rollbacks from previous offers and the proposal now includes a provision that would allow the France family/NASCAR to purchase charters, which are at the heart of the series’ business model.
When team owners pushed back at NASCAR owning and operating race teams, they said they were sternly informed it is no different from IndyCar, which is owned by Roger Penske, who also fields three cars in that series. It also was noted that NASCAR owns the IMSA sports car series, and one of the teams is owned by chairman Jim France.
Many of the teams are defeated and fear that NASCAR will make a “take it or leave it offer” in the showdown. Even though the clubs voted in February to hire top antitrust sports attorney Jeffrey Kessler as an adviser, no progress has been made toward filing a lawsuit; a few teams are hesitant to pursue legal action.
There are now 36 charters, which ensure inclusion into every race for the 15 teams that hold them. The charters expire at the conclusion of the season, and negotiations for a new deal have been ongoing for several years. Major terms demanded by clubs include making the charters permanent, getting 45% of conventional media money, 33% of new revenue, and a guaranteed seat at the table to give teams some governance power.
NASCAR’s latest offer was for charters that are guaranteed for seven years, and an option for another seven years after that. It also included a cost cap and, in addition to the France family being allowed to buy charters, a provision in which NASCAR would allow private equity firms to buy into charters.
“I think there’s still a ton of work to do. Not a little bit of work. Quite a bit. So that’s going to be the priority over the next few months to get this thing a little closer,” Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, said after NASCAR’s offer was reviewed.
Stewart-Haas Racing announced last month it was shutting down at the end of the season, which put their four Cup Series charters on the market. The very next day, Front Row Motorsports said it had acquired a charter to expand to three teams next season. Front Row did not disclose how it got the charter or how much it spent; Spire Motorsports is believed to have spent $40 million last year when it purchased its latest charter.
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