The charter system. It’s such an expansive and divisive topic in NASCAR that it’s quite difficult to come to a common ground about its advantages, disadvantages, and so on. For some, it needs to be a staple, permanent part of the sport. For others, it needs to be temporary and regulated considering the sky-touching charter prices. But for Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin, their opinion on this subject is the same.
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Hamlin, who is the co-owner of 23XI Racing, has been pretty vocal about the collective cause of Race Team Alliance to make charters permanent, that being one of their biggest demands from NASCAR.
Stewart too, who became a team owner in the sport way before the charter system was introduced, somewhat shares the sentiment of Hamlin
Tony Stewart thinks the charter system not being permanent would be “ludicrous”
In a recent interview, Stewart opened up on the subject of charter systems and his take on the whole thing. He claimed that NASCAR will be playing a big role in what happens in the future as he touched upon the fact that team owners are spending millions “to put on the product” for the governing body.
“The idea that they (NASCAR) don’t want to give permanent charters, I think, is ludicrous. For somebody that wants to invest in the sport, why would you invest in something and not have security of knowing that your investment is somewhat secure?”
“We (team owners) all hold all the risks. We’re the ones that have to go out and secure sponsorship to put these cars on the racetrack and to sit there and have a sanctioning body not support that and want to support us from the charter standpoint, I just think it’s asinine. I’m sure they’ve got their reasons, and I’ll respect their reasons but may not agree with them at all times,” he described as per NBC Sports.
When asked about whether the charter system needs to be made permanent, Stewart said, “I hope so.” He argued that it needs to be so because it is “extremely critical” for the longevity of NASCAR.
“There’s going to be a lot of eyes on that decision (by) people that make decisions on whether they want to invest in the sport or not.”
Hamlin also claimed no one would invest in NASCAR if charters aren’t permanent
Tony Stewart pointing out that a lot of potential investors of NASCAR will be closely monitoring the ultimate decision on the whole charter system being made permanent or not was also something Denny Hamlin spoke about in one of his podcast episodes.
“No one from the outside will ever invest in the sport unless it’s permanent. Because, you know, if you have let’s just say Mark Cuban wanted to invest in NASCAR. He would say, ‘So let me get this straight. I got to spend tens of millions on a franchise that can be taken away from at any moment,” Hamlin argued. “Well, that’s just stupid.”
So for someone who isn’t aware of NASCAR or the charter system or the way the whole economics of it works, even they should be able to understand the point these team owners are making. Not only are they worried about their own investments. they’re worried about the sport.
After all, if a potential investor knows that their investment can be taken away from them in the future, they won’t invest, would they?
