The long-running story of the NASCAR Cup Series Charter Agreement culminated this week with the revelation that every team except 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were playing ball. The former, in particular, had issues with the officiating body over several terms listed on the papers and released a statement that read that it did not get the chance to bargain fairly for more.
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The hold-up might serve the Denny Hamlin-Michael Jordan partnership well in the future. But right now, there is active damage being done, and the retired icon Kevin Harvick pointed it out in a recent episode of Harvick Happy Hour. The field is currently heading towards the second race of the playoffs. Harvick believes that such distractions in this high-pressure stage could negatively impact team morale.
He laid his thoughts out by citing the words of Bubba Wallace from Atlanta. The driver said, “It’s frustrating to see where we’re at because that impacts my life, my livelihood, and everything moving forward for my future.” The emotions from such words of obliviousness from one of the team’s drivers could easily spread across the race shop. And it isn’t something that will help the playoff run.
“Worst timing ever because it’s the most stressful time of the year,” Harvick said. “You have everything that’s going on with the playoffs, you’re going into the first round of the playoffs and for Denny, he had about as bad of a first-round as you could possibly have at Atlanta.” The veteran continued to bolster that Hamlin wasn’t making his job on the track any easier by dipping his feet in chaos.
Why did the other teams succumb to NASCAR’s pressure?
NASCAR and its teams had been fighting nail and tooth over the agreement for several months. Almost every team owner found the proposed terms blasphemous and was on the same line as Hamlin in voicing out their concerns. So, why then did they submit to the deadline of last Friday that the officiating gave and put their pens to the paper?
Hendrick Motorsports benefactor Rick Hendrick said in a recent news conference, “I think we worked really hard for two years and it got down to, you’re not going to make everybody happy. And I think it got down to, I was just tired.” He admitted that though not everybody was happy, NASCAR had agreed to many of their requests and that protecting the charters became the priority after that.
Hamlin and Jordan are in a tricky situation. Their driver Tyler Reddick is one of the favorites to win the championship at the end of the season. The last thing they want is to see the negative sentiments affect his mentality and resolve to perform on the race track.
