What’s Happening?

On Thursday, a new report revealed one of the most important stories of this young NASCAR season. The report claimed that NASCAR CEO Jim France was planning to fund a car to be entered by Spire Motorsports at Sonoma Raceway this summer. Though this is no longer happening, the gravity of this news should not be overlooked.

The initial report from Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic claimed that Jim France, the CEO of NASCAR and a member of NASCAR’s founding family, was going to team up with Spire Motorsports to enter a fourth car for the July 13 race at Sonoma Raceway. 

It is important to note that Spire would have owned this ‘open’ car, not the NASCAR CEO, with France supplying the funding. The report also stated that France was initially interested in entering the car through Hendrick Motorsports; however, NASCAR’s four-car limit in the NASCAR Cup Series prevented this.

France’s plans were even far enough along that Jack Aitken, a winner in IMSA, was the planned driver. However, France has put his plan aside as, according to the initial report, “Many in the garage were uncomfortable with the idea of competing against someone who also owned the series, given the potential conflict of interest.”

Nonetheless, the reaction to this news in the NASCAR community was no different than that of those in the garage area. Many fans were concerned about what this plan, had it gone through, could have led to in the future.

A Conflict of Interest?

A Racing Series owner entering a race team in their series is nothing new to motorsports. For example, Roger Penske owns not only his NTT INDYCAR series team but also Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the NTT INDYCAR Series itself.

France is no stranger to such conflicts of interest himself. Though he is part of IMSA’s ownership, the 80-year-old NASCAR CEO also owns Action Express Racing, the team Jack Aitken drives for in IMSA. Furthermore, rumors have been circulating that members of the France family have been interested in owning a NASCAR Cup Series team, along with a charter, since last fall.

In early September, a now-confirmed rumor spread that members of the France family could own a charter and enter cars in NASCAR as part of the new NASCAR Charter Agreement. This new provision in the NASCAR Charter Agreement was immediately met with backlash from fans.

Why Does This Matter?

For the majority of NASCAR’s history, those in the NASCAR offices stayed out of the garage area as owners. Though he wouldn’t have owned the car, fans and perhaps some teams are worried that France’s funding of the car could lead to NASCAR’s first family owning a team at some point.

That scenario alone would open up a Pandora’s box of conflicts of interest in the garage area. INDYCAR fans are no strangers to this, as during Roger Penske’s reign of ownership, his team has been at the center of several controversies.

However, it’s not that the Frances would be out to rig races for their team or even show any bias towards their potential team. It’s the fact that owning a team would create an existing conflict of interest, something that could likely only further drive a wedge between the sport’s ownership and team owners.

To make matters all the more interesting, according to the initial report, the idea of doing this could still happen this season as Aitken’s schedule opens up for two road courses. But if the France family has learned anything from this, staying away from the ownership side of the garage area, even if it wasn’t their car, might be the best thing to do going forward.

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