The
new Charter system addresses three key areas – participation, governance and
economics – to promote a more predictable, sustainable and valuable team
business model. The agreement grants NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Charters to 36
teams, establishes a Team Owner Council that will have formal input into
decisions and provides Charter teams with new revenue opportunities, including
a greater interest in digital operations.
“Today
represents a landmark change to the business model of team ownership in
NASCAR,” said France. “The Charter agreements provide nine years of stability
for NASCAR and the teams to focus on growth initiatives together with our track
partners, auto manufacturers, drivers and sponsors. The Charters also are
transferable, which will aid in the development of long-term enterprise value
for Charter members.”
The
system affords Charter teams that remain in good standing more predictable
revenue over the nine years of the agreement. Along with improved financial
certainty, the new framework is designed to increase the long-term market value
of teams and provide the ability to plan farther ahead with existing, new and
prospective partners.
Similar
to the five-year sanctioning agreements that NASCAR begins with tracks in 2016,
team owner Charter agreements allow for longer planning cycles around
competition, innovation, digital marketing, governance and research and
development.
“The
new Charter program strengthens each of our businesses individually and the
team model as a whole, which is good for NASCAR, our fans, drivers, sponsors
and the thousands of people who we employ,” said Rob Kauffman, co-owner of Chip
Ganassi Racing. “This will give us more stability and predictability, and it
will allow us to take a more progressive, long-term approach to issues.
“NASCAR
and the teams share a desire to preserve, promote and grow the sport and
ultimately produce great racing for our fans and partners. These common goals
served as the foundation for discussions and helped bring us to this
unprecedented agreement. This is a great step forward for the entire sport made
possible by Brian France setting a new course for the NASCAR industry and the
owners coming together on shared issues. Everyone involved then compromised a
bit to be able to come up with something that worked for all.”
Each
Charter team owner has a guaranteed entry into the field of every NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series point-counting race. To maintain the historical openness of NASCAR
racing, the balance of the field will be open for team owners who do not hold
Charters. These Open team owners will compete for the remaining starting spots
and positions in the race, as each event in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’
starting lineup shifts in 2016 to a 40-car field.
“The
new team owner agreements will offer a more appealing environment for both
current and prospective team owners at the NASCAR premier series level,” France
said. “I’ve always stressed that if we can do things to improve the business of
our stakeholders, we will pursue it. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished
today with this agreement.”
|
2015 Car #
|
2016 Car #
|
Organization
|
|
43
|
43
|
Richard
Petty Motorsports
|
|
9
|
44
|
Richard
Petty Motorsports
|
|
3
|
3
|
Richard
Childress Racing
|
|
27
|
27
|
Richard
Childress Racing
|
|
31
|
31
|
Richard
Childress Racing
|
|
2
|
2
|
Team
Penske
|
|
22
|
22
|
Team
Penske
|
|
5
|
5
|
Hendrick
Motorsports
|
|
24
|
24
|
Hendrick
Motorsports
|
|
48
|
48
|
Hendrick
Motorsports
|
|
88
|
88
|
Hendrick
Motorsports
|
|
6
|
6
|
Roush
Fenway Racing
|
|
16
|
16
|
Roush
Fenway Racing
|
|
17
|
17
|
Roush
Fenway Racing
|
|
1
|
1
|
Chip
Ganassi Racing
|
|
42
|
42
|
Chip
Ganassi Racing
|
|
11
|
11
|
Joe
Gibbs Racing
|
|
18
|
18
|
Joe
Gibbs Racing
|
|
20
|
20
|
Joe
Gibbs Racing
|
|
15
|
TBD
|
Michael
Waltrip Racing
|
|
55
|
TBD
|
Michael
Waltrip Racing
|
|
4
|
4
|
Stewart-Haas
Racing
|
|
10
|
10
|
Stewart-Haas
Racing
|
|
14
|
14
|
Stewart-Haas
Racing
|
|
78
|
78
|
Furniture
Row Racing
|
|
35
|
34
|
Front
Row Motorsports
|
|
38
|
38
|
Front
Row Motorsports
|
|
47
|
47
|
JTG
Daugherty Racing
|
|
7
|
7
|
Tommy
Baldwin Racing
|
|
13
|
13
|
Germain
Racing
|
|
32
|
32
|
Go
Fas Racing
|
|
23
|
23
|
BK
Racing
|
|
83
|
83
|
BK
Racing
|
|
62
|
62
|
Premium
Motorsports
|
|
33
|
95
|
Circle
Sport Racing
|
|
51
|
15
|
HScott
Motorsports
|
Did Kurt Busch retire??? I don't see 41
ReplyDeleteYes, he has retired to pursue his career as an investment banker. J/K.
Deletehey dave where's charters for #19, #21, #41 & #46
ReplyDeleteThey did not make enough starts, make enough money and earn enough championship points over the last three seasons to earn one. Those are the criteria that NASCAR and the owners agreed to work from.
DeleteNow that is done time to re think Qualifying. I propose that only those not in the top 30 in points do it. Top thirty would line up with number 30 in points on the pole and number 1 starting 30th. Remaining cars run a heat for the last 10 positions. Now lets race.
ReplyDeletewhy does Michael Waltrip racing have two? Didn't he close down
ReplyDeleteSo Carl Edwards has to race his way in every week?
ReplyDeleteWayne, is that socialism in qualifying? Why penalize high point teams by making them start near the back?
ReplyDeleteMWR has two because it was based on how teams finished through 2015. They were still in business in 2015. I didn't hear why Rob Kaufman got them though. Was he majority owner?
Its penalize. Its simple. Make then race. This will do away with all the special things that are done just to Qualify. All you have is race setup practice. The old thing of time trials with the same guys starting up front every week is junk. This will save tons of money and make for better racing.
DeleteRob K. is still a NASCAR owner (partners with Sebates). Waltripisn't a NASCAR owner in any way, shape, or form, anymore.
DeleteI understand the criteria and reasoning, but something just seems so wrong when the Wood Brothers aren't one of the original charter teams.
ReplyDeleteRules are rules, but it just stands out like a sore thumb when you consider all things great in the past history of NASCAR and many of them involve the very same #21.
I am not anywhere near familiar with how a cup team is owned or ran so I can't really contribute as to whether this deal is good, bad, etc.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't understand why MWR was awarded (2) charters when they announced they were closing their doors well before this final deal was struck. As unfortunate as the timing would be- I would say they missed the cut since they aren't a current active cup team. If teams were excluded from being granted a charter because they didn't quite have (3) full years of racing under their belt- I don't think MWR(Rob Kauffman)should be able to cash out on a race team that is now defunct.
On the surface, since I was not involved in any of these closed-door meetings, it appears that Mr. Kauffman benefitted greatly for being the spokesperson and ringleader for the cup team owner's group. While I know he still owns a stake in the game since moving on to Ganassi Racing- why should he cash out on an ill-fated MWR?
Because he does not want to run a race team; especially one that takes Top-5 expenditure and returns only mediocre results. He's actually been pretty clear about that over the last 6-7 months.
DeleteI think the point of "why should he cash out on an ill-fated MWR?" was less "why is he getting out" and MORE to the point of "how can a registered, documented cheater who (by his own admission) was running the show during most of MWR's shennanigan's be allowed to get Charter credit and profit from a defunct, extinct organization?" Because that's my question. Seems like he set himself up nicely for someone without a race team. It's like in Stand By Me when Vern says he brought the comb, and Teddy yells, "What do you need a comb for?! You don't even have any hair!!" I'm yelling at Rob Kaufman, "What does MWR need a Charter for?! You don't even have any cars!!"
DeleteDave, One thing that nobody seems to be talking about is how this effectively changes the Cup series from an open sport to a closed sport. For example, prior to this system a new team could be started and if it had enough sponsorship, money, and talent to break into the sport and run well, it could succeed. See all existing "Charter" teams histories as the example. Now, with this new system, that is still possible, (as one of the 4 "Open" spots), but much less probable. One of the fan appeals of NASCAR has always been the ability for new entrants to break in, and seems to me that this system will just make that much more expensive with the cost of a Charter added on top. Be interested in your thoughts on that, thanks.
ReplyDeleteIf there are open spots in the field, it's not a closed sport. Simple as that. New teams can still show up, qualify and race, if they have enough speed. That's also no change. In terms of who qualifies 0n Friday afternoon, this system is not much different than the old "Top-35" system. In terms of allowing team owners to predict revenue over the long haul and have something of value (a charter) to sell at the end of their run, however, it is entirely different. And better.
DeleteWhen the new charter system had been announced yesterday I found myself feeling pretty bad for the wood brothers, good for Tommy Baldwin, then wondering who the hell a couple of these new charter teams were. After much reading and listening to the commentaries of you, your brethren at Sirius and the opinion of many callers I have a better take and as the rules were written the wood brothers don’t deserve to be one of 36 regardless of their storied past. I would still like to see them starting every race this year without the added stress of besting the unchartered but rules are rules, young blaney will do us all proud.
ReplyDeleteWhat doesn’t pass the smell test for me is by reducing the number of drivers in the field to 40 they have essentially increased the value of the charter. Rob Kauffman, the chief architect of the rules for charter distribution guided the discussions and his team of merry car owners came up with a package that sees the majority happy and Kauffman the first to sell his charters and essentially walk away from his MWR race team experiment with a 2 x cool high single digit million dollars for his part in what is now the new history of NASCAR. I think the man was a little too close to the action to be able to win that lottery without a conflict of interest.
I will still follow this sport as I always do, read your column and listen to your radio program, but where I sit Kauffman pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes
I'm honestly not a fan of many of the changes NASCAR is doing lately. Not just the charter; the shrinking of the race field, scheduled pit stops in the truck series, and continuing to broadcast races on channels that many people don't get. Also I've always been against them racing on Saturday nights. Competes against the local race tracks and takes away viewership. Seems like a "no brainer" on that one. Many of those involved with NASCAR whom have now past must be turning in their graves. If they don't change there ways soon I hope someone starts another racing series that get's back to the old days of NASCAR. Even if it's not stock cars per say.
ReplyDeleteBy asking earlier why Kauffman should be able to cash out on an ill-fated MWR- I didn't mean to question why he would walk away from it. Like Dave followed up with- MWR wasn't yielding the results he expected based on the money being dumped in. I get that part of it. My question was why he was granted (2) charters in the first place when the team had already closed their doors.
ReplyDeleteBased on other articles- teams missed out in getting a charter because they hadn't quite raced the last 3 seasons. So I don't know why Kauffman would be awarded (2)charters for a team that no longer exists. One would think that charters could only be awarded to ACTIVE race organizations- especially not to organizations that knew they were closing their doors before we even got to Homestead. I would have thought in order for a charter to be awarded in the first place- a team would have to agree to not sell their charter for a certain amount of time (unless for some reason they don't remain competitive).
But I suppose I have to applaud Mr. Kauffman for getting the system to work to his advantage. Bravo, Mr. Kauffman. You managed to "start and park" (2) charters and cash out to the tune of millions.
I know this is old news, but I come and go out of my truck and don't have time to call in.
ReplyDeleteI think I understand the Charter system and don't have a problem with it except for the Wood Brothers issue. The rules that are rules weren't rules until they were written. Why couldn't the rules have read the last 3 years . . . and teams that have contributed to the sport for about 60 years? Just my thought.
Also, I haven't heard much about it, but the Charter system seems to be a major break from the NASCAR of the past in that the team owners have more say than they did. In the NFL for example the team owners pick the commissioner. NASCAR Charter owners don't pick a France (commissioner), but now they have a lot more say in the rules. And, I think that will have the most impact to the sport over the future years. If I was on the radio you'd ask me a lot of questions and I would admit I am not sure about all of that, but that is what it seems to me.