What’s Happening?

Adam Stern dropped a bombshell on the NASCAR world on Monday reporting that JTG-Daugherty Racing could see a major ownership shakeup along with losing their sponsor, Kroger. What exactly is happening at JTG-Daugherty Racing?

• JTG-Daugherty Racing is co-owned by a group of individuals. This includes former Procter and Gamble sales executive Tad Geshickter alongside his wife Jodi (forming the JTG), former NBA basketball player and current NASCAR broadcaster Brad Daugherty, and businessman Gordon Smith. According to Stern, other NASCAR connections Geshickter has is what is causing this potential change.
• JTG-Daugherty Racing was originally founded in 1995 by Tad Geshickter, and the team competed in the Xfinity Series either full-time or close to it until 2008, winning 2 races in that span. The team moved to Cup full-time in 2009, and they now have 2 Cup Series wins including the 2023 Daytona 500 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• Fans are very interested in how this story plays out. This could mean a major shakeup amongst NASCAR race teams that few expected.

Everything We Know

According to Stern, Kroger and team owner Tad Geshickter might be moving to a new race team in 2024. Through other contexts, the most likely team could be Joe Gibbs Racing. As Stern reports, JTG-Daugherty Racing co-owner Tad Geshickter, who has close ties to Kroger, is also partnered with Joe Gibbs Racing through his agency, Brand Activation Maximizer.

There are a couple of possible scenarios we can deduce from this. One is Geshickter leaving JTG-Daugherty altogether.

JTG-Daugherty Racing losing Kroger and a team owner would be a major loss for the team. In 2023, according to Racing Reference, Kroger was listed as a primary sponsor for 21 of 36 races. Without that funding and the funding from a major investor, where is the money coming from for JTG-Daugherty Racing? This also adds to the charter chatter, which we will discuss below.

The second scenario is Geshickter letting JGR align with JTG-Daugherty. This means an additional race team for Toyota, which is big due to Toyota having the fewest full-time Cup Series cars with 8.

Stern did not elaborate on which specific scenario was most likely aside from Geshickter and Kroger potentially going to JGR.

Charter Implications?

If JTG-Daugherty is forced to dissolve or sell a charter due to lack of sponsorship or funds, that opens up an extra Cup Series charter. We already know that at least 4 race teams are reportedly interested in purchasing charters as Adam Stern reported earlier this month.

It’s far from a guarantee that a charter will become available at JTG-Daugherty, but, it is an interesting possibility. Could this be Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s opportunity to head to the Cup Series as a team owner? Could Trackhouse use it to expand its Cup Series operations?

Given the JGR and Toyota connection here, it seems most likely a charter would go to a Toyota team. With Geshickter potentially moving to JGR and Toyota being interested in adding another race team, maybe a team like 23XI or Legacy Motor Club could absorb the charter or the operations of JTG-Daugherty Racing. That could be where the JGR alliance goes.

In the end, we do not know exactly what will happen with JTG-Daugherty Racing yet. However, we do know that there could be major changes incoming.