Today, NASCAR is arguably the most popular form of motorsport in the USA. With its ever-evolving schedule of races, its efforts toward international expansion, and the billion-dollar media rights deal, the league is all set to make it big this year.
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Despite all of that, several teams are not happy because NASCAR has still not renewed or extended the Charter agreement, which is about to expire at the end of the current season. But why is the Charter system so important? Let’s find out.
What exactly is a Charter?
Stock car racing has always been expensive. The teams, along with their sponsors, invest a hefty amount of money for their cars to run in NASCAR’s top-tier racing series.
Thus, in 2016, the NASCAR owners, i.e., the legendary France family, brought about the Charter system that basically safeguards the investments that the teams make and also provides them an extra incentive for their efforts in doing so. Moreover, the charters guarantee a starting position for any team owning one.
However, the charter system does come with a basic term of exclusivity; NASCAR will not create more charters than it already has and the chartered teams will not race in any other league.
How were Charters given out?
There are 36 charters as of today and NASCAR fields 40 cars in each race, give or take. On that note, one might ask how NASCAR chose which teams to hand out charters initially. Let’s not forget that the sole motive behind NASCAR giving out charters was to reward certain teams for racing regularly.
To begin with, NASCAR considered the teams’ participation and regularity for three years till 2016 (when they introduced the Charter system).
That way, they chose 36 teams to own the charters that they felt had the desired level of commitment toward NASCAR. This means, that in most races to this day, the field holds 36 chartered cars and four non-charter cars.
How much do Charters cost?
Well, there is no fixed price on a charter. When NASCAR initially distributed them, they came free of cost. But the tricky part is where the teams can sell or even lease out their charters. Since the teams have started doing that, the values of Charters have shot up.
Spire Motorsports purchased a charter from Live Fast Motorsports that was worth more than any charter previously bought or rented out ($40 million). This was about thrice the amount that 23XI Racing had paid a few years back for its charter.
So what happens if NASCAR doesn’t renew its charter agreements? In simple words, the answer is discontent. And that was evident when team owners boycotted several meetings that NASCAR called to discuss the charter deal.
However, will NASCAR be in trouble because of that? The core of the charter dispute is in the money and for its part, NASCAR is making more of it than ever. So, probably not.
