It takes more than just raw talent to build a career in NASCAR. As unfortunate as that might seem, Team Penske icon Joey Logano illuminated the sad truth of NASCAR in a conversation with veteran journalist and entrepreneur, Graham Bensinger. Needless to say, as motorsport enthusiasts, it might come off as a shock to many.
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Throughout history, numerous talents in the arena of NASCAR have faced being cast into the deepest depths of oblivion. And that is solely because they didn’t bring pools of money with them to secure their Cup Series rides.
While bigshot teams like Hendrick Motorsports, Stewart-Haas Racing, Trackhouse Racing, and Team Penske don’t follow the same blueprint, Joey Logano explained how any other team besides the big ones has to pay in order to race their cars. “Everyone else is paying to drive,” he said. “It’s bit of a broken system, but it’s like that in all forms of motorsports.”
“It’s not like that in NBA, it’s not like that in NFL. If you’re talented and you’re good, you’re in. That’s it. You can be talented and good and never make it in Motorsports just because of the cost of being there,” he added, with utter regret oozing out of his voice.
Quite naturally, the team owners invest hefty chunks of money for their machines to be able to compete in NASCAR’s top-tier racing series. It goes without saying that they demand some sort of security for their dollars. This is exactly where the Charters play their role.
A team owner could run out of business someday owing to the high-edged competition in NASCAR and yet save himself and his team from going broke by encashing these million-dollar Charters. Although Charter teams are held to a minimum performance standard, it guarantees the team entry into the field of every NASCAR Cup Series points race.
How the Next-gen car is helping with the cost aspect
There was a time in NASCAR when the teams could tweak the mechanics here and there following certain permissible limits, to gain a remarkable performance advantage during the races. However, that is not possible anymore.
With the next-gen cars, better known as the Gen-7 stock cars, NASCAR has leveled the field for every competitor out there. Every car is similar in terms of components and statistics. Hence, winning a race only comes down to aerodynamics and strategy.
Although today’s stock cars cost anywhere between $200,000 to $400,000, according to the #22 Ford pilot, the next-gen cars should help with the cost, besides the parity that it brings to the table.
“When you look at the Next-Gen car, and what it’s supposed to do…well, it should help that in theory,” said the 2022 Cup Series champion, “It’s helped with parity in making the car similar and it should help with cost.”
“That’s why you see more owners wanting to get into the sport because they see an opportunity to make money with this thing finally as an owner. That piece of the sport is growing and that’s really good,” he concluded.
