Amid intense charter negotiations between NASCAR and the race teams, no team owner has been more vocal than Denny Hamlin, who suggests that NASCAR needs to give the teams more money. Well, former NASCAR driver Landon Cassill turned that argument on its head, arguing that NASCAR could say they’re not forcing the teams to spend so much money. Who is right?
Landon Cassill commented on the issue on “The Money Lap” podcast, responding to Denny Hamlin’s claim that teams pay $18 million to field a car. The crux of Cassill’s argument is that NASCAR is not forcing the teams to spend money on extra things. As a result, NASCAR could easily tell the race teams that the extra money spent is not down to NASCAR, but rather the teams themselves.
I want to change [Hamlin’s] wording to say, ‘We spend $18 million a year in NASCAR.’…I want [Hamlin] to approach this as nuanced as you can. NASCAR is not making you hire 100 engineers. NASCAR is not making you rent private jets. Now, again, this is a competitive business. It’s a competitive sport. It’s a professional sport. We spend those thngs because it gets us a competitve edge, beause it gets us faster race cars, and faster race cars get us in victory lane. There’s a little conundrum there where what Hamlin is saying is truthful. He’s trying to field a competitive team, and it takes $18 million to field a competitive team. NASCAR’s position in hearing these team owners sort of complain abot how much it costs, NASCAR can very easily take this position that, ‘We’re not making you spend $18 million.’
Landon Cassill
Hamlin responded to the comments by shedding some light on the negotiations. He highlighted that the teams showed NASCAR what they spent money on, and neither side believed that the expenses were “Excessive.” Hamlin also argued that teams must spend more money in other areas to compete at a high level.
On the one hand, Cassill is correct that NASCAR is not forcing the race teams to spend money on certain things. Did NASCAR make Denny Hamlin build their new headquarters, known as AirSpeed, which cost a reported $16 million? In simplistic terms, no, but the answer is more complicated than that.
As both Hamlin and Cassill point out, racing is a competitive sport, and teams will do whatever they can and spend as much money as possible to build a competitive edge. Think about the best teams in NASCAR: Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Team Penske; all are multi-car operations with massive sponsorship deals. If teams want to be as competitive as these other teams, they better pony up the money.
Aside from 23XI Racing, Spire Motorsports is another example. Spire bought out an entire race team (Kyle Busch Motorsports) to open up more shop space and purchased a third charter. That spending spree has continued into 2024, as the team is set to bring in Michael McDowell and Rodney Childers in 2025.
The question then becomes about responsibility. Is it up to NASCAR to cap how much teams spend, or is it up to the teams to control it amongst themselves?
It’s also important to note that NASCAR has multiple responsibilities with this deal. It’s not as simple as giving the teams a bunch of extra money. Adam Stern recently reported that NASCAR had layoffs due to business restructuring. S&P Global reported that SMI is forced to slow down paying off debts due to the new charter agreement, giving the teams a greater share of money.
The charter agreement is a very complicated situation, and both Hamlin and Cassill raise some interesting questions. The bottom line is that this will remain a conversation until a deal is reached.
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