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NASCAR’s recent charter negotiations with teams have brought a somewhat forgotten fact back to the forefront. NASCAR is withholding four Charters from teams, but why?
NASCAR introduced the charter system prior to the start of the 2016 season. Teams that competed full-time from 2013 to 2015 received a charter, resulting in 36 Charters for the now 40-car fields.
Charter entries give teams valuable compensation for owning a charter through automatic race admission and revenue sharing between the Racing Teams Alliance, NASCAR, and the tracks, most of which are owned by NASCAR.
Some teams sold their Charters immediately, such as the 32nd charter, No. 55, granted to Michael Waltrip Racing, who sold it to Joe Gibbs Racing, who renumbered it to No. 19.
Teams can sell and lease these Charters. However, those like Waltrip, who sold their charter early on, did not realize the value of the commodity. Recent charter prices have made those who opted to wait to buy a Charter regret not buying sooner.
Though teams can sell a Charter, NASCAR still maintains a lot of say over Charters. They maintain this power through the Charter Agreement. The usually private negotiations had some public moments. One notable story was what NASCAR could do with four Charters that they did not assign to a team in 2016.
Since Dodge left after the 2012 season, NASCAR has made it no secret that it wants a new, fourth manufacturer. However, there are complexities that NASCAR has to work through to get a new OEM on track.
While NASCAR built the Next Gen car with Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota in mind, the Next Gen allows for another manufacturer to join more naturally than in the past. However, NASCAR staples like pushrod V8 engines may not be what some manufacturers want to represent their products. Factors like this prevent a new OEM from starting the long trek of finding a team, building an engine program, and getting cars on track.
Fortunately, NASCAR has a plan to help hold the hand of a new manufacturer. These four remaining Charters were supposed to be a jumping-off point for a new manufacturer and team to enter the sport. Maybe even NASCAR’s proverbial “white whale” manufacturer in Honda.
Four, ironically, is the current limit on a team’s number of in-house entries per race. However, while still unclear, the new agreement may limit the number of chartered entries to three.
In that event, NASCAR has a new plan. According to Jenna Fryer of AP Sports, NASCAR left “language” in the charter agreement, allowing members of the France family, NASCAR’s founders and owners, to own a charter with prior reports that those four Charters could go to the Frances or NASCAR as an entity.
We have explored what NASCAR could do with an “in-house” car. However, there is currently no evidence that NASCAR would pursue this route.
The new question is, should NASCAR wait for a new OEM or take the in-house route?
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