The NASCAR Charter system has been a topic of debate ever since it was introduced back in 2016. Basically, NASCAR wanted to franchise all the running teams/cars individually so they could levy charges on them as a separate entity. But when the system was introduced, the prices hovered within seven digits, often reaching a couple of million dollars for each charter.
However, as time passed and the availability of charters greatly diminished, its prices also shot up significantly. To highlight the immense price rise, consider the recent acquisition by Spire Motorsports, which they got from Live Fast Motorsports for a brain-melting $40 Million.
Clearly, there has been an inflation in charter prices. And speaking about this enormous inflation regarding charter prices, a few NASCAR insiders on the Door Bumper Clear podcast, recently shared their views on what may have caused the situation to grow to where it is today.
NASCAR Insiders sheds light on the gargantuan rise of charter prices
During the recent episode of the podcast, this topic was taken up for discussion. During the conversation, co-host Casey Boat asked the reason surrounding the price rise for the charters over the years.
Subsequently, Bubba Wallace’s spotter, Freddie Kraft, responded, “Yeah, you know, right now it’s the pending TV contract. Teams anticipating getting a bigger chunk of the pie and it just it’s basically like stock market. It’s speculation… I mean, you talked about guys are buying charters. for what, like $12-13 Million a couple of years ago?”
Fellow spotter Brett Griffin chimed in, “I mean, five or six (million)… I mean it was not long ago that Furniture Row (Racing) sold theirs to Spire for $6 Million…” He later added how Dale Earnhardt Jr. was not ready to invest $10 million back then for a charter to get into the Cup Series. Griffin then jokingly said, “I bet he wishes he would’ve…”
What is Spire Motorsports cooking after spending $40 million?
The amount it took the team to buy one charter was pretty significant considering how less these things would cost a few years ago. Now to obviously justify the price they would have to sign someone really good, right?
Well, as per NBC Sports, the team recently announced their 2024 Cup Series signee to be Zane Smith. The reigning Truck Series champion apparently signed a multi-year deal with the team. Smith was previously associated with Ford, but due to the lack of available seats in the Cup or Xfinity Series, he made the decision to join Trackhouse Racing and Chevrolet starting in 2024.
Since the Justin Marks’ owned team only had two cars with Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez, they formed a partnership with Spire to field a third car, which would allow Smith to participate in the Cup Series.
