The fear of receiving a financial penalty or a suspension is what enforces fair play in almost every sport worldwide. NASCAR is not an exception. But the drivers in the Xfinity Series have been bypassing that notion in plain sight. Saturday’s race in the Martinsville Speedway proved that they neither care about getting fined nor suspended. Why? Because their team isn’t going to fire them anyway.
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Money is a crucial factor in keeping a racing team alive. Cup Series teams receive big pay for their work every weekend. The Xfinity Series teams receive only a small fraction of that amount.
Due to this, owners in the second tier often hire drivers who bring a lot of money to the table. It is through this funding that the team brings a car to the field every weekend. But when they do this, they lose all leverage against their drivers. The defending Cup Series champion, Joey Logano, detailed this brilliantly on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
He said, “I’ve been paid to drive a car since I was 15 years old! I had a boss. I had someone to answer to. With the Xfinity Series these days, and the Truck Series, all of them are paying to drive the car.”
“You will not get fired if you’re bringing money to the table.”@joeylogano speaks on the current dynamic in the @NASCAR_Xfinity Series and how the structure of the Cup Series differs from the lower levels.
More #BehindTheWheel with the 3X champ → https://t.co/UiHLwgVHC5 pic.twitter.com/pdWtHm2LGx
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) April 1, 2025
“So, you will not be fired if you’re bringing money to the table. It takes a lot for a race team to say, ‘You can’t drive our car anymore,’ when you’re bringing millions of dollars to drive their car.”
He continued to explain that the lower-tier drivers get used to not having someone who dictates things to them. And this is why they face issues when they move up to the Cup Series, where their money means little.
Brad Keselowski wants Xfinity team owners not to be scared
A team that depends on the money that a driver brings in would never suspend or take strong action against that driver, regardless of what mistake he makes. RFK Racing co-owner Brad Keselowski wants this to change.
In light of the issue, he wrote on X, “I get that they are all scared to park a funded driver out of fear they will lose the money to continue operations. However, at some point, that’s the risk you have to take to get this right.”
Fans did not receive this idea well. The common perception is that NASCAR has to be the one with the axe and not the teams. Denny Hamlin’s former crew chief, Chris Gabehart, believed the same and responded to Keselowski’s post with an explanation. Regardless of what the viewpoint is, everyone agrees that things have got to change in the Xfinity Series.
