The charter system sits at the very core of NASCAR’s modern business structure, and right now it’s the centerpiece of a high-stakes legal showdown. NASCAR is at risk of losing the concept of a charter system as a whole if both parties (NASCAR on one side and Front Row Motorsports and 23XI Racing on the other) go to court to settle it, and NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell isn’t here for it.
Speaking on the Dale Jr. Download, O’Donnell couldn’t help but praise the current charter system and how it’s playing out for the rest of the NASCAR teams. He said, “Now, we’ve seen the value grow for teams, which is awesome. And what we wanted to come out there because you go to trial, and we saw it written, was the charter system could be up in the air. That’s not good—that’s a lot going on there. So, I think the teams are saying, ‘Hey, there’s a concern here if this goes to trial that anything could happen to the sport, including charters going away.’ That’s a concern… If it goes away, that’s not a win for NASCAR—that charters went away. We support charters. We’ve got 13 teams that signed up with them.”
Steve O’Donnell has made it clear; he doesn’t want to set foot in the courtroom for a trial, especially when NASCAR’s version of the franchise model, a charter, secures teams a guaranteed grid spot and steady stream of annual revenue, and according to the sanctioning body, it has generated more than $1.5 billion in equity value for its members since its inception in 2016.
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A year ago, after more than two years of stalled negotiations, 13 of the 15 teams offered to re-sign rather than risk a worse outcome. The remaining two, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, took a different path and headed to court.
For months, the 13 teams that stayed in line have quietly voiced concerns that the lawsuit has clouded NASCAR’s future. But that silence finally broke last week, and several of the biggest organizations released public statements, urging both sides to find common ground and reaffirming their support for the charter system that keeps the business of racing afloat.
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Reinforcing his point, Steve doubled down, saying, “So what I think that did, Dale, is it helped. You know, it’s being positioned that NASCAR wants the charter system to go away. You know, Jim France—the one thing about Jim is—the charter system is in place and said, ‘I will live by whatever we signed.’ He had a choice, right? He could have said, ‘You know, we don’t want charters in the future.’”