“We’ve Had 11 Teams Go Out of Business”: Denny Hamlin on What Unites NASCAR Teams During Charter Negotiations

Denny Hamlin has been the loudest voice outside of the NASCAR charter negotiation room. As a co-owner of 23XI Racing, he is among the team owners who are demanding more fairness in the terms of the new charter agreement that is due to be signed before the end of 2024. Talking to the press in Kansas, he has highlighted the understanding within the team owner camp that facilitates the fight.

Asked what it was that made them stand united against the sanctioning body, Hamlin noted that there were four major demands that encapsulated what every team wanted. While the order of priority between these four might change for each team, the basics wouldn’t. Moreover, a key concern that is pushing all the teams together is a negative trend in the sport.

Hamlin revealed, “Why this is such an important thing is we’ve had 11 teams go out of business since 2016. That’s not good. And certainly, if we continue on the trend of a couple stakeholders doing really well and one not, that’s not going to be good for our sport.”

His final words are a reflection of a long-lying frustration with how revenue is split between NASCAR, tracks, and the teams.

Hamlin expresses anger at NASCAR’s unfair business model

The 23XI Racing co-owner has made it a routine to question and challenge authority. Now that it has become a regular scene to watch him hurl complaints, he has gone out and made deeper revelations from within the negotiating room. Talking to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his podcast recently, he spoke about the disconnect between stakeholders in sharing revenue.

“There are three stakeholders in this sport,” he said. “The tracks, the teams and NASCAR. To be quite honest, two of those stakeholders make nine figure profits a year and one stakeholder loses seven figure profits per year. So there’s clearly a disconnect.” Continuing, he opened up on what the consequences of not finding a balance could be.

He warned, “We just wouldn’t show up when we don’t need to. The Clash, we won’t show up at the All-Star Race, wouldn’t show up at… Maybe there’s some races that pay less. We just won’t show up to those. It’s just not financially good.” With neither NASCAR nor teams backing away in this relentless battle, everyone would be better off holding onto their seats right, for a storm is brewing.