The new NASCAR charter agreement may promise some benefits, but it’s clear that smaller teams like Rick Ware Racing (RWR) and MBM Motorsports are still facing significant struggles.
The costs of running a competitive team are astronomical—up to $20 million annually—and the payout for the last-place team remains a mere $8.5 million. This imbalance leaves smaller teams fighting an uphill battle, as the financial structure heavily favors the established, top-tier teams.
The current charter system, set to expire at the end of 2024, has some loopholes that could further widen the gap between larger and smaller teams. For instance, the system doesn’t prevent financial entities or individuals, including members of the France family, from acquiring charters. This opens the door to speculation and monopolization, where charters might be traded for profit rather than to genuinely increase competition in the sport.
Teams have raised concerns about the lack of fairness in NASCAR’s financial distribution, and many team owners are pushing for permanent charters to create more stability.
With permanent charters, teams could secure their financial futures and invest more confidently in talent and equipment. But while this push may help larger teams, smaller ones like RWR and MBM would still face an uphill climb unless NASCAR adjusts its revenue-sharing model to offer more support to teams at the bottom of the grid.
The last-place NASCAR charter in the current agreement from 2016-2024 gets about $5 million annually, while that will go up to around $8.5 million in the new version that the 13 teams signed for from 2025-2031.
Even with the new deal smaller team will struggle. Having a successful top tier team isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. I’m hoping that the new charter agreement will allow teams like RWR and MBM to be more competitive.
It costs $20,000,000 to run a top tier team and last place gets 8.5. It’s rigged so the new + smaller teams can’t beat the top teams coming in.
Nascar has-been sticking it up the teams ass for years
Teams and drivers need to unionize. What’s NASCAR gonna do? Kick every team and driver out of the sport? Then they won’t have a product anymore and no one is gonna watch a bunch of nobody’s run in their places. We should’ve been done with the France family years ago.
Unionization is an idea that’s been floated, especially by those who feel that NASCAR’s current governance, dominated by the France family, puts teams at a disadvantage. If drivers and teams were to unionize, they could collectively bargain for a more equitable distribution of funds and better working conditions.
However, NASCAR’s ownership and governance have historically been resistant to such shifts in power. If teams were to stage a walkout, NASCAR might replace them with lower-level drivers, risking a product that could turn off fans. This tension between preserving the traditional NASCAR structure and evolving for the modern era remains a key issue for the sport.
Ultimately, while the new charter deal offers some promise, smaller teams will likely continue to struggle unless significant changes are made to level the playing field in NASCAR.
