Uncomfortable Questions Arise in Wake of Latest Charter Agreement Drama
Heading into Sunday's Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the opening race of the 10-race NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the focus within the industry couldn't be further from the on-track action that will ultimately begin the official chase for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship. Instead, Charter Agreement negotiations continue to linger over the sport like a dark cloud prior to a wild thunderstorm.
The aftermath from the negotiations could end up mirroring the scene of a storm in tornado alley.
On Saturday, 23XI Racing confirmed that it has opted to not sign NASCAR's latest Charter Agreement offer, which was given a NASCAR-imposed deadline of Midnight on Friday for teams to sign on the dotted line.
While Front Row Motorsports has chosen to not issue an official statement on whether it has signed the Charter Agreement, many sources within the industry have disclosed to Racing America on SI, corroborating previous reports from several other outlets including The Athletic and FOX Sports, that Front Row Motorsports, along with 23XI Racing, are the only two teams who have yet to sign the agreement.
That's what we know, currently, but there are still a lot of questions left to be answered regarding the Charter status of 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
According to sources, NASCAR issued a stern warning to teams about the Friday Charter Agreement deadline, where NASCAR Cup Series team owners were threatened with the revocation of their Charters if they didn't sign the deal by Friday's deadline. The sources say the threat was aimed at pressuring the teams into signing the agreement.
In a Saturday media availability, Brad Keselowski, a driver and co-owner of the RFK Racing team says the term, "forced," doesn't quite fit the situation that was presented to him with the NASCAR-imposed deadline.
"Well, I don't know necessarily where that's coming from," Keselowski stated. "Forced is a really strong term, but you know, we are getting to a spot where it's important to get these things settled."
NASCAR, which has kept mostly quiet about the Charter negotiations throughout the process, has not commented on the latest twist in the Charter Agreement saga. And there is very little expectation that NASCAR will address anything publicly until the agreement is officially completed.
But now there are questions, and very important ones in regard to Friday's deadline. Did NASCAR actually issue the threat to begin with? And if so, was the sanctioning body bluffing?
If NASCAR indeed threatened to pull Charters from teams that didn't sign the agreement on Friday night, that would potentially mean that 23XI Racing which has two Chartered entries and has been linked to potentially acquiring a third Charter, and Front Row Motorsports which acquired a Charter earlier this season in an effort to expand to three full-time entries next season, could be stripped of their Charters heading into next season.
The loss of Charters would be a massive, and potentially trajectory-altering development for both race teams. Team Charters, in addition to being a tangible asset that can be sold for 10s of millions of dollars for teams looking to exit the sport, and guaranteeing entry into each NASCAR Cup Series race for the 36 teams that own them, are instrumental in how the revenue pie is divvied up among the Chartered teams. Unchartered teams collect some race winnings, but without a Charter, the payouts are far less than with a Charter.
Denny Hamlin even admitted on Saturday that racing without a Charter can be done, but that financially, it would be a difficult hurdle for a full-time race team to overcome.
You also wonder, with all but two teams signing the Charter agreement, what the two remaining teams have going for them as far as leverage in their hopeful negotiation bids. Obviously, the weight of all of the teams fighting together is a much heavier obstacle for NASCAR to toss to the side than a couple of stragglers not willing to fall in line.
But at the same time, in 23XI Racing, NASCAR would seemingly also need to be measured in its approach. NBA legend Michael Jordan, who has been spending more time at the track with his 23XI Racing team, knows how revenue sharing works in big-league stick and ball sports. If NASCAR doesn't meet some of 23XI Racing's demands, could MJ bolt from the sport altogether?
That has to be a concern for the sanctioning body.
And one last question is if all but two teams have signed the Charter Agreement issued by NASCAR this week, but there are two holdouts, is there a path where the two teams, who refused to sign, end up with a different deal than the one the other teams are legally bound to with their team owner signatures on the other agreement?
You would imagine if two teams get their own "special" Charter Agreement deal, it would cause uproar within the ownership ranks in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Anyway, as we're all supposed to be focused on a 400-mile superspeedway race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, we're left with more questions than answers when it comes to the Charter Agreement talks, which have been slow-moving over the last couple of seasons.
TOBY CHRISTIE