When the Next-Gen car was introduced, team owners and NASCAR themselves believed that the cost of going to the race would have come down, but that has not been the case. Trackhouse Racing boss Justin Marks recently appeared on SiriusXM Radio and explained how the costs involved in running a team and building a car hadn’t been reduced and instead were just being diverted elsewhere.
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“What I think everybody didn’t quite anticipate is that the car did not reduce the cost to go racing. It just moved the cost centers around on the financials. It’s like, we don’t run the fab shop like we used to, obviously, but we have taken that cost and put it in other areas. We put it in engineering and simulation and data mining and all that kind of stuff,” he said.
🗣️ "Those conversations around cost and the business model of the teams, NASCAR has […] proposed a framework in front of us to address that issue."@TeamTrackhouse's @JustinMarksTH discusses the ongoing charter negotiations ⬇️
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— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) May 8, 2024
With the introduction of the Next Gen car back in 2022, all the teams were required to purchase parts from the same mandated manufacturer. The idea behind this was to make sure that everyone on the track was equal from a performance standpoint. However, for the teams to find an advantage on the racetrack they end up splurging on other aspects as mentioned by Marks. So in essence, the costs of operations have not gone down as the promotion would have intended, instead, they have been reallocated to other things.
However, there was optimism from Marks about the much-contested charter agreement that is yet to be signed. If reports are to be believed, NASCAR and the team owners are nowhere near reaching common ground. But the Trackhouse boss believes that the promotion has been responsive towards the echoes put forward by the team.
Despite high costs, Justin Marks remains positive about the charter agreement
The current charter agreement runs out at the end of this season and one of the things team owners have asked for is a 50% cut of the TV revenue under the new revenue-sharing deal. When it comes to managing costs, a higher share of the pie would help every single team in the long run. Although, NASCAR has seemingly been aversive to agreeing to that. But the Trackhouse Racing boss believes that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“I’d say the light at the end of the tunnel is the fact that it has to be more cost-effective to run this business and I think NASCAR understands that. We’re having conversations around what costs look like in the new charter agreement that we are all working on. So I would look at that… Some of those conversations that we are having with NASCAR, out of respect for everybody should stay there. Out of those conversations are some real potential positives coming our way,” he added.
If that is truly the case then it should not take too long for the teams to agree upon a deal. The future of the sport is at stake after all and it will be interesting to see what the terms of the new charter agreement will be.
