What’s Happening?

Denny Hamlin is known for his outspoken nature, and he called out Jim France in a recent interview with Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal. Hamlin said that the future of 23XI buying a charter is up to whether or not Jim France chooses to “Invest in the teams”, saying, “If not, we’ll continue to cut, cut, cut like we’ve been doing. Content will suffer. Getting people [to work in NASCAR] will be harder and harder, and this sport will stay with its feet stuck in the mud.” What does this actually mean, and what does it say about the charter agreement?

• Denny Hamlin has been one of the most outspoken individuals throughout the charter negotiations between NASCAR and the teams. The teams continue to want more money from NASCAR under the next charter deal, but, NASCAR and the teams are still far off about how much more money.
• Hamlin is a team owner, so, his thoughts on this matter are very interesting. However, these thoughts on cutting things are also strange given the massive investment he has just made in 23XI Racing’s new headquarters.
• Fans are hoping to see race teams like 23XI Racing expand soon. However, it seems that expansion is on hold until we know what the charter agreement will look like.

What Is Hamlin Saying?

The charter market in NASCAR is a very interesting one. It was recently rumored that two Tier One teams were looking to expand, i.e. buy a charter. However, many quickly pointed out that the current charter deal runs out at the end of 2024.

That seems to have deterred at least Denny Hamlin for now. It’s tough to know exactly what a charter’s value is if it expires at the end of the current season.

Hamlin has been one of the most outspoken voices throughout the charter negotiations. For all of his comments on charters, check out the article below. However, his comments go deeper than that.

He talks about cutting things, having a hard time hiring people, content being cut, and the sport not moving forward. The idea of NASCAR teams barely scraping by and having to make tough decisions is not an opinion solely held by Denny Hamlin.

Jeff Gordon opened up about the current economic state of NASCAR during a recent appearance on the “Dale Jr Download”. Most notably, he claimed that Hendrick Motorsports has not made a profit in 10 years, and he claimed, “A lot of teams are struggling.”

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that less profit means that a business needs to find a way to save money. Restructuring or cutting things out is a part of business, and it often comes to save costs. However, Hamlin’s comments where he cries poor comes at a very interesting time for him.

Hamlin Crying Poor

23XI Racing is opening up “Airspeed”, which will be the team’s new racing headquarters. This project was estimated at $9-16 million by the Charlotte Business Journal back in 2021.

Yet, here is Hamlin publicly talking about cutting things out and struggling to hire people, and alluding to costs while doing so. Obviously, we don’t know what the checkbooks of 23XI Racing look like and a charter is likely to be as much as 4 times the cost it was to build these headquarters, but, it’s strange timing for sure.

When Gordon talked about race teams struggling, he specifically talked about Hendrick Motorsports. He mentioned that even they have not made a profit in 10 years.

Compare that to Hamlin, who makes this comment while building a massive $multi-million facility. It’s certainly a strange look.

It doesn’t mean that Hamlin is wrong in his comments because not every race team has the resources 23XI Racing does. However, it makes it tougher to convince NASCAR that 23XI Racing is struggling.

Denny Hamlin’s comments add to an already common narrative, but, they come from a rather odd place. Either way, the charter negotiations continue to see NASCAR and the race teams seemingly far apart.