Impassioned Denny Hamlin paints bleak future for NASCAR unless concessions are made
With just seven months until the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season begins with the 67th Running of the Daytona 500, the sanctioning body and race teams have yet to come to terms on a new charter agreement. The current agreement ends after the 2024 campaign, and according to 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin, the two sides aren’t making much headway on a deal.
Hamlin, speaking with Kenny Wallace this week, said teams are simply asking for NASCAR to cover their expenses to “put on this show” every weekend at racetracks across the country. To this point, NASCAR isn’t budging.
“We’re trying to make it more simple and we’re trying to go to NASCAR and say, ‘Let’s lock arms. Let’s do this together. We’ll give you these rights to go shop for us, that way when you go get an official sponsor, it goes to all of us.’ Same as with the NBA, the NFL, MLB does,” Hamlin said. “When they go get a league sponsor, every team gets a little piece of that and then the league gets a portion as well. It’s not like [in NASCAR]. We compete for the same sponsors that NASCAR does. We have our own sponsors that NASCAR will send their own sponsorship proposal to try to get them to spend money with them.
“And it’s like but we need them the most because of our business model. It cost us $18 million a year to put a car on the racetrack, we’ve asked NASCAR to just cover our costs. Nothing more, just cover our costs to go put on this show for you. And the answer has been repeatedly no. You will get what we give you and you will like it. And so, if you don’t, then don’t be a part of this.”
At the center of negotiations, teams fight to secure permanent charters. Under the current model, charters are not permanent franchises like the setup in other professional sporting leagues. Teams can lose their charters due to poor performance on the racetrack or failing to field their cars week in and week out. As a result, most teams lose money on a yearly basis. Teams argue that by not having permanent charters, it makes it more difficult to attract outside investors and invest in their operations.
Denny Hamlin comments on what happens if no charter agreement is made
Hamlin has been the most vocal with his displeasure about how negotiations, or the lack thereof, have gone. Hamlin told Wallace that every proposal NASCAR has sent over to teams has been worse than the one before it. As a result, no progress is being made with time running out.
Hamlin offered a bleak future for the sport if an agreement doesn’t get done before next season. As Hamlin puts it, get ready to see your favorite drivers only on a part-time basis.
“We’re banging our heads against the wall because repeatedly as these negotiations have gone on, there’s been no negotiation. It’s been every proposal they’ve sent back to us is worse than the previous. That is factual, it keeps getting worse,” Hamlin said. “So, when you ask me where are we at today, we are worse off than we were two years ago. And we are eight months away from the Daytona 500 and there not being any charters.
“And why the race fans should care about that is that the reason Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports show up every week is because there’s a charter deal. We get a payment to show up every single week. If there is no charter deal, we will pick and choose what the best paying races are. And we’ll go run those races. And then some weeks, you won’t see us at the racetrack because maybe that race doesn’t pay quite as good. Or maybe we don’t have a sponsor for that race…
“That’s not good for the sport. You wanna see your superstars on the racetrack every single week. Which is why this charter agreement needs to get done. NASCAR needs to understand that the teams and these drivers, they are the stars, and they are the cars. And that is what people come to see every single week. … Until we see NASCAR come our way just a little bit, I just don’t know where this goes.”