Denny Hamlin Admits RTA Deliberately Made Their Feud With NASCAR Public to Sabotage & Leverage New TV Deal Amid “75% vs 25%” Row

Over the last few weeks, Race Team Alliance’s battle with NASCAR over more revenue sharing has heated up quite a lot with the teams making all kinds of statements and threats and protests to get what they feel they deserve. But what about the other side? NASCAR’s side? That is what Denny Hamlin recently spoke about.

In an episode of his podcast show, Actions Detrimental, Hamlin opened up on what the other side of the table is arguing, how long will this argument last, and who has the more leverage and a chance to win between NASCAR and RTA.

“Their argument…they’re gonna say we have a lot to invest in the sport. We own racetracks. Those racetracks cost a lot of money to run. Other sports don’t have the overhead of the racetracks,” Hamlin revealed.

Denny Hamlin is optimistic things will swing in RTA’s way soon

After revealing NASCAR’s side of the argument, Hamlin made a case that races can also be held at tracks like LA Coliseum instead of going to the fixed tracks, which are owned by SMI & NASCAR. He put forward a point of COTA, which is simply rented for the weekend NASCAR comes into town.

He claimed that the “franchise profits” NASCAR has are “high“. Hence, the teams think there’s a potential for a “fair share” there.

“Their argument is that these racetracks cost money…we have all that liability. And that’s why ‘Teams cannot afford to give you what you think your fair share is. So we say, ‘We need some sort of compromise’ because it can’t be the 75-25 split we currently have,” Hamlin described.

“All other forms of sports share all the revenue. We only share a small piece of the pie and one source. We need to get all our interests aligned.”

The 23XI Racing co-owner thinks the more everyone in the sport is aligned, the better the growth there will be for the sport. And as for if the interests will come on the same page, Hamlin feels it will come true.

“I’m more positive than ever that will happen,” he said.

However, Hamlin also made a veiled revelation about the scenario or the outcome for NASCAR should they not listen to the teams, and how disastrous it can potentially be for them.

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Hamlin predicts massive setbacks for NASCAR if they ignore RTA’s demands

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Denny Hamlin revealed that the negotiating window with FOX & NBC is already underway. He feels that NASCAR has already gotten over the money part with the networks. Whenever an agreement is reached, they’ll make a decision.

In this process, there are two outcomes Hamlin described that can take place – “They’ll say, they either want to take this to bidding with some outside people that are interested. Or they decide to renew with those guys with a new number.”

“I think within probably 6 months where NASCAR lands on this,” he added.

But in the pecking order of making deals that need to be made, Hamlin claimed NASCAR needs to deal with RTA first. Else it could cost them big time.

“I think NASCAR has to make a deal with us. I don’t see how you can go out. And get the most money from a TV partner if you don’t have your house in order,” Hamlin said. “No TV partner wants any interruptions in service. And with the teams publically saying they weren’t happy with the deal, that could throw up red flags for TV.”

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With that said, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver feels “NASCAR is more inclined to get a deal done with the teams.” That way when they go to the networks to renew their deal, they can go, “‘Hey, they’re happy. Here’s what assets they can bring to the table. How can we maximize this deal?'”

As for if it’ll happen or not, time will tell.