Denny Hamlin Alleges NASCAR Is Trying to Push Owners Out of the League Amid Tony Stewart’s Exit With SHR

Despite the glitter and confetti visible at races, NASCAR Cup teams suffer between the lines. The primary reason for that is the current business model. It compels teams to be at the mercy of temporary charters which could easily disappear in case of poor performance. And a prime example of that surfaced just a few hours back.

Stewart-Haas Racing, a prestigious Cup team associated with 69 Cup wins, announced its plans to shutter. This came after almost a year of rumors trumpeting its sale of charters. Amidst this major development, NASCAR is implementing a double strategy as 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin observed.

Denny Hamlin exposes illogical NASCAR plan

At the end of 2021, the prospect of inducting new team owners to the sport was welcomed. It was the time when NBA legend Michael Jordan and Grammy winner Pitbull forayed into NASCAR. The Next-Gen car was about to be rolled out. Rick Hendrick, Matt Kaulig, and Justin Marks were excited about the new ownership class. But Denny Hamlin wore a critical lens: “It’s very difficult for the new owners coming in because ultimately when you look at us, we don’t have billion-dollar businesses that we can leverage our partners in.”

The years have rolled by and Denny Hamlin’s suspicions have snowballed. With Tony Stewart and Gene Haas shutting down a 2-time championship-winning team, the charter system’s glaring holes have opened up further. The 2016 charters are set to expire this season. The uncertainty has already scared off sponsors and projected a $200 Million loss over the next five years if nothing changes.

In this jittery scenario, NASCAR hopes for new owner faces in the sport, which Denny Hamlin recently ridiculed on his podcast. On ‘Actions Detrimental’, he said: “I think that they believe that there are drivers just wanting to be NASCAR Cup Series owners…They don’t want some owners, but they want other owners…They would like the owners to come in. But until they change the business model for us, no one’s gonna do that. Those other owners I speak of, have tried it and gone out of business.”

Denny Hamlin also offered an interesting reason for NASCAR wanting more team owners. And it is a tactic to divide and rule. “They wanna have 15-20. That’s gonna be hard to achieve. I don’t know why they want so many…but maybe it’s because when you have less, it’s easier for them to get on the same page and the same ideals. When they want something, you’d have to listen to that smaller group.”

Hamlin’s reasoning could again be proven correct, given his earlier accurate predictions. 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan also sees the redundant economic flaw in the sport.

Jordan cast a dark omen for the sport

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As things have reached a head with Stewart-Haas Racing, one cannot help but wonder about NASCAR’s mistakes. Granted, Kevin Harvick’s exit crippled SHR. But recent race stats show that SHR drivers like Josh Berry and Noah Gragson are picking up momentum. Yet the unreliable charter model works against them anyway. Major investors like Anheuser-Busch and Smithfield Foods left, and SHR lacks the revenue or a permanent charter to draw in new sponsors.

Michael Jordan poignantly raised this issue earlier this year, stressing the need to listen to teams’ demand for permanent charters. “If you had permanent charters, then you could create a revenue stream, either with new investors or different types of sponsorships that would subsidize that type of variance between ownership and the league.”

Then Denny Hamlin’s colleague also issued a warning call to the NASCAR executives. “That’s a big, big miss right there. If you don’t correct that, this sport’s going to die not because of the competition aspect, but because economically it doesn’t make sense for any businesspeople.”

With Tony Stewart’s stellar NASCAR Cup team quitting, the sport has already begun to crumble in line with Jordan’s fear.