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Inside Scoop On NASCAR Charter Drama · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Hi everybody, Rick Mast here on the Rick Mast Show on the Kenny
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  Wallace show platform. I want to talk to you today a
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  little bit about this charter deal, okay?
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  The NASCAR charter deal I spent, we went to Land of Motor
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  Speedway Sunday and I spent the, the morning in the garage area
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  trying to talk to some folks and figure out, try to figure out
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  what was going on. And then when when that ended,
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  we went up the grandstands, watch the race.
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  I had my children with me, went to the grandstands, watch the
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  race. We're going to do it.
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  We're going to do another video on that because that's
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  important. We need to talk about that.
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  But anyhow, when I left the garage area, I felt like I had a
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  pretty good understanding of what, what's kind of been going
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  on and what's happening and what the deal is.
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  So then I read a report some some reporter put out a a story
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  and they were talking about how the owners were forced by NASCAR
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  to sign this agreement. And they went on just bad mouth
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  and NASCAR bad mouth and how it was done, put the owners in the
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  bad spot, blah, blah, blah. Typical negative journalism
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  about our sport that I always gripe about.
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  And I remember thinking, now you talk to either different people
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  that I talk to, or the people lied to me, or they lied to you,
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  or you tried to make a story out of a generalization, or somebody
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  may have said something, I don't know.
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  But I do know this. I don't get lied to those folks
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  that I talked to in the garage area, guys, they don't lie to
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  me. All right.
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  So anyhow, but regardless of all that, the two takeaways, I had
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  two takeaways when I, when I left that garage area #1 the big
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  thing was a sign of relief. These guys were just so relieved
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  that this was over. And you got to remember, they've
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  been fighting this thing for two years.
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  They've been fighting it and NASCAR's been fighting it.
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  That's number one. Number two was the general
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  feeling that when you're negotiating, 2 or more parties
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  are negotiating some kind of deal, business deal,
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  relationship, whatever it might be.
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  When it's over, neither side gets 100% of what they want.
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  And I mean, I've been in those my whole life negotiating deals.
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  Hardly ever do you have one side that gets 100% of what they
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  want, right. And that's that's kind of where
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  this fell in line. I mean, the teams didn't get
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  100% of everything they thought they wanted or needed.
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  NASCAR didn't get 100% of everything they wanted or needed
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  or thought. OK.
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  So to me, it's just a typical, typical business deal that I
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  relationship a thing that just, you know, they come down to, you
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  know, this is the best. This is all this side's going to
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  give. This is all this side's going to
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  give. Here's where we are sign the
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  deal or or don't happen, right? And that's kind of what
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  happened. So the owners that I talked to,
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  it was just just just such a sigh of relief, right?
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  Been going through this for two years.
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  You know, they can get on to the business of racing now, they can
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  get on the business of planning what they're going to do.
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  You know, you got sponsorship, you got all this stuff that that
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  revolves around this and this charter deal, man, it's a big
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  deal. I mean, it's a big ass deal.
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  You know, it really goes back to talk about it, how the
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  beginnings back in the 90s when our sport was so popular, you
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  know, I mean, the sponsors in those days, man, because they're
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  so popular, we weren't beating them off at the door.
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  But if you, if you had any kind of PR abilities about your team
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  at all and and your reputable team, you were, you could get a
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  sponsor. I mean, it was not easy, but it
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  wasn't hard like it is now. I mean, you could get sponsors.
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  And what happened was become so popular.
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  We had 43 teams each week racing each week, right?
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  Starting races, you had 43 for the most part.
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  A lot of times there, I remember we had 434445 fully funded good
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  race teams. OK.
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  And what happened, we started sending some of these race teams
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  home because they didn't make the race.
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  I mean, we're talking like a Fortune 500 company sponsor that
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  missed the race, right? And that's bad.
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  That's not a good deal, man. You want these sponsors in these
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  races. So that that's kind of what
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  started the provisional thing where we start.
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  We had a couple provisionals, then we added more provisionals,
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  then we had the champion provisional, OK.
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  That was kind of the prelude to the charter system and the
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  charter system came along and that was one of its goals to do
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  that. I think I heard Dale Junior say
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  that that was that was the goal and the doubts morphed into
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  being this franchise thing. Well, that was one of the goals,
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  but one of the other goals of the franchise was to give owners
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  value for their race, race team if they got out of the sport.
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  I mean, every race team owner that ever was in our sport when
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  he got out from you know, from that key coffer guy in the 50s
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  right up through Junior Johnson, but more all these guys when
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  they got out, the value of their team was whatever that welder
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  and cutting torch and sheet metal equipment would bring out
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  a yard sale or a fire sale, OK, That's the value of their team.
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  So the charter thing, one of the Part 1 of the deals with the
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  charter was in hopes that it would give value to that team
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  owner, OK, So if he if he wanted or needed or wanted to leave the
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  sport, he could sell his charter and have some blue.
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  So we call it blue sky value or value more than just a fire sale
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  equipment sale would be. And, and really over the years,
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  this thing has has morphed into thinking it's a franchise thing
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  and it's not a franchise thing, man.
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  We're not the MLB, we're not NFL.
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  Our, our system, our entity's different.
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  Our, our business model is not like any of the other
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  professional sports. This, this is not a franchise
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  situation. You know, we're still
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  independent contractors, everybody's independent
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  contractor. So, you know, the new TV deal
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  and that that's kind of how this all got up to where we're at
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  now, right? So the new TV deal comes along
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  and everybody's wanting a bigger piece of that pie.
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  I mean, the teams are wanting a bigger piece of the pie and some
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  other things. And you know, for two years
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  they've been negotiating. They waited on the TV deal to
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  get signed. That was a big thing.
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  We got to get the TV deal signed.
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  All right, we got that signed. Now we can get serious about our
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  negotiations. Well, they did.
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  And it it got to the point where it's very obvious NASCAR wasn't
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  going to give any more. They said, here's what we're
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  going to do, right? And the team owners said, you
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  know, well, this is this is all we can give.
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  So when when you get to those deals in these situations,
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  that's when everybody has to step down and think, all right,
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  what's the best? What's the best?
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  What's the best deal for me? What, what, what, what do I need
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  to do? Do I need to sign this deal or I
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  do I need to walk away? All right, all the guys that I
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  talked to wanted this thing done.
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  They wanted it over with. They were tired of dealing with
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  it. They were tired of taking up so
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  much of the time, so much of the efforts, so many on questions or
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  questions unanswered about what what are we going to do going
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  forth by race team? What, you know, this charter
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  deal is just signed. It's not signed.
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  We're going to have charters, not going to have starters.
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  I mean, have I got to have a different sponsor?
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  Has my structure got to be different?
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  You know, all these things that go through these owners minds or
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  deals, right about whether this charter thing is going to happen
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  or not or what what, what's it going to look like?
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  All got put to bid. It all got put to bid.
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  It's all arrested with the exception of of 2323 X 23.
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  Michael Jordan did the Hamlin team in front row.
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  Obviously they they feel stronger that they want.
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  And that's the other thing too. Nobody would come off the hip
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  about what more concessions they want and back up a little bit.
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  Nobody, the people I talked to, nobody talked about any specific
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  things with me. All right?
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  Like specifically, we didn't get this or we wanted that and we
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  got that. But here's what's going on.
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  So when we talk about Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin's team in
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  front row, then again, nobody would give specifics about it.
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  And to be honest with you, I know a couple of the guys talked
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  to me about it. They didn't even know what the
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  specifics were. They kind of thought maybe they
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  might know, but they didn't. They weren't 100% sure exactly
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  what those teams were, were holding out for.
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  OK. And you know, that's, that's
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  fine because they, they got their own deal.
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  Now moving forward, what's going to happen?
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  Hell, I don't know. You know, I, I, it's hard for me
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  to believe that, gosh, that team won't be here next year or front
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  row for that motors for that matter.
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  It's that I just kind of find that unfathomable, but that they
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  wouldn't be part of our sport. This thing will get worked out.
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  The other part of it is, you know, if, if, if they do come
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  off the hip of something a little bit more generous that if
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  NASCAR does do that, then you know, that'll, that'll go
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  through all the teams, I'm sure. But you got to understand, man,
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  NASCAR, NASCAR is a dictatorship.
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  They always have been. You know it, it's been that way
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  since the beginning. And, and you go into it knowing
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  that and it's a very viable successful dictatorship, right?
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  And one of the reasons that it's been successful, in my opinion,
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  is that it's a dictatorship. It always has been.
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  And I think that's one of the reasons that this thing exploded
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  the way it did through the 80s and 90s, the decisions that were
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  made with Mr. France and Mr. France junior.
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  And now everybody that's in charge of it now, you know it,
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  it's, it's their game. We all, when you come into this
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  sport as an owner or driver, whatever, you know the deal,
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  right? You know, you know the business.
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  If you're coming in as a as a driver, of course, you know all
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  that. But if you come in as a, as a
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  owner, you, you know the structure, you know the business
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  structure of this sport, you know what it is.
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  You know, you, you should know if you've got any scruples at
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  all or any smarts, you should know what you're facing, what
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  your battles are going to be, the financial part of it, what
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  that's going to entail and what it's going to mean.
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  And you know, when you get here and you do that right then, you
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  know, I don't know how you're going to think you're going to
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  change that when the people have been here for 30 years as
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  owners, 20 years, integral part of our, of our sport.
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  Would they agree to this thing? You know, I'm not sure how that
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  plays with with the guys that don't sound.
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  I'm not criticizing 23. I'm not criticizing those guys.
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  I'm just telling you facts of of kind of how this sport is and
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  the way it is. And, and, and you know, you
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  sometimes, man, you got to swallow your pie to just, you
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  know, go with the best, move your best foot forward and and
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  and go with it. But you know, for I guess my
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  point, here's what I'm trying to say, guy.
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  Here's what all that means. You don't bully NASCAR.
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  You just don't do it. You you don't bully it out.
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  I remember Denny said on his podcast a while back, you know,
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  they talked about, you know, we've all heard his drivers and
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  all this sport was here. If you causing a problem, you go
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  to NASCAR, they'll tell you this sport was here before you got
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  here. It'll be here when you're gone.
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  Now, if you want to be here and enjoy it while you're here,
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  fine. If not, you go on.
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  Right. And it it's always been that
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  way. And Denny was talking about, you
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  know, I'm not sure that that holds as much weight as it used
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  to. OK, Well, I'm not sure that
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  Denny's right correct on that. I'm, I'm not sure about that
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  one, but you know, NASCAR is never been bullied, OK?
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  You're not going to bully them. You're not going to bully them
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  today, right? I mean, that that's just, it's
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  ingrained in a man. It's just the way they operate.
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  They've been so super successful with the way this thing has been
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  run for all these years. Yeah.
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  And I know we're in a new era and it's just 2024 and all that,
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  but the basic design of this sport and the basic philosophy
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  of of this sport and what got it towards that and what needs to
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  be going forward, You know, you're, you're not going to, I
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  don't think you're going to change NASCAR's thinking in
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  that. And they have evolved.
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  They've evolved big time. I can tell you the truth.
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  They've done a lot of things that really surprised me.
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  I didn't think they would ever do just, you know, but it's all
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  about the betterment of the sport and, and, and they, you
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  know, they stick to their guns, you know, they, they stick to
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  it. I mean, a lot of times I've seen
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  this with other other owners over the years, man, the other
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  owners will have have valid points.
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  And I'm thinking, man, they're exactly right.
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  And NASCAR bucks them right And they don't go along and it turns
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  out, well, I'll be damned. NASCAR was right about that, you
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  know, you know, I've just seen it.
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  So it happened so many times. I'm you know that.
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  But anyhow, I wanted just to tell you for fact, facts, facts,
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  actual facts, what these owners are thinking, number one, it's
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  over with. It's relief.
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  My deal's signed, I don't have to worry about that crap no more
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  #2 I didn't get everything I wanted, but it's good enough for
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  me to survive and thrive and keep on going, OK?
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  That's all you. That's all you really need to
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  know about this charter deal. You know, whatever happens with
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  Jordan Hamlin's team in front row, you know, whatever happens,
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  they'll get it worked out one way or the other and we'll go on
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  down the road and race next week.
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  So anyhow, just wanted to pass that along to you guys.
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  I felt like y'all deserve to know you know exactly how most
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  of these guys feel. Toodaloo, goodbye.