NASCAR is unquestionably an expensive sport. Unlike other physical sports where athletes rely on physical skill or muscular prowess, racers depend on the precise performance of their cars. This means pouring tons of money into racecars, engineers, crew members, and more. Recently, NASCAR has added to the financial strain by delaying charter negotiations and denying teams a larger share of the revenue, leaving many teams anxious about their future.

Denny Hamlin has been one of the foremost voices protesting against NASCAR’s greed. Recently, a former Xfinity driver rounded up his own opinion about the entire ordeal. However, the NASCAR grid did not react fondly to his views.

A past NASCAR driver provokes Denny Hamlin and Co.

NASCAR’s race teams find financial holes in a lot of places. The foremost expenditure probably rises in the Next Gen car. All its parts are from a common single-source supplier and are less durable than earlier models, prompting expensive replacements after short intervals. Then the sponsor environment is getting tougher due to the temporary charters. Unlike sports like NBA or NFL, NASCAR’s charter system baffles sponsors as they do not guarantee a long future.

So Denny Hamlin and his peers have been lobbying for mainly four demands. These include increased revenue to help the teams support their operations, making the charters permanent, having a say in NASCAR decisions to avoid unexpected cost increases, and a share of revenue from new business deals. Yet Landon Cassill, a former Xfinity driver, recently said the demands are overstretched.

Speaking on the The Money Lap podcast, Landon Cassill boldly stated: “NASCAR is not making you hire 100 engineers. NASCAR is not making you rent private jets. NASCAR is not making you spend $250k on a pit box.”

In a cutting response to Cassill’s apparently misinformed stance, Denny Hamlin gave a clear-cut breakdown of costs to be competitive. “About 8 engineers. No private Jet. 13m hard cost. 5m to be competitive.” Hamlin sarcastically added one small area they could let off NASCAR for: “We could cut some aesthetic cost however have you seen 3/4 of xfinity garage? Amazing experience that would be for our sponsors.”

Other NASCAR stars also backed Denny Hamlin’s stance. According to a projection, even top-tier teams like Hendrick Motorsports can be crippled in five years if NASCAR does not change its charter model. Hence Cup Series spotter Brett Griffin snapped at Cassill’s opinion: “Borderline ignorance.” He further added to his argument: “Money over talent until we pay the teams to hire talent. The Xfinity Series is slowly being ruined and, in time, Cup will be next. Anyone who doesn’t see the progression and where it’s headed is BLIND.”

Brian Murphy, a former Stewart-Haas Racing employee and now an RFK Racing insider, also scored a point on behalf of Denny Hamlin. Murphy pointed out that NASCAR needs to up its game and not stick around illogical expenses, as underlined by Cassill. “This mindset is toxic and unhealthy. NASCAR is 𝘵𝘩𝘦 highest form of motorsport in the western hemisphere. Are we ready to downgrade and give up it’s prestige for fake economical reasons?”

Clearly, the NASCAR garage is not taking kindly to Cassill’s opinion about the charter debate. Denny Hamlin took a step further and explained more clearly to the former driver.

The expenses are deeper than meets the eye

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When Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan created 23XI Racing, they stood on little capital. It costs $18 million to run a Cup Series car before paying the driver, and they had two faces. Spending on a new building would cost tens of millions more. However, they relied on the accurate prediction that NASCAR’s media position would gain a boost in a few years. Sure enough, NASCAR signed a $7.7 billion media rights deal last November. But they left teams with little to nothing of the pie. Besides that, teams consume only 30 percent of the broadcast revenue.

These are only some of the ways in which race teams are losing money. In response to Landon Cassill’s argument, Denny Hamlin further expanded on his take, detailing the variable costs that teams face. “First, 18M is just for the car on the track to put on this show each and every week. Seems as though you think it’s excessive. Well, we opened our books to NASCAR to show what exactly that money was spent on and that it was not excessive. You mentioned that anything we make beyond 18m is ‘profit.’ That would be incorrect.”

Hamlin took a page out of 23XI’s story. “As someone who started a team from scratch and kept it as lean as I could, there are MANY other depts at a race team that are 100% necessary to operate. Business, marketing, sponsorship, social media, it goes on and on. That all cost a significant amount of money that is above and beyond the numbers listed above. That money is spent as not only as a necessity for our team but to GROW the sport thru on and off-the-track activation.”

Evidently, the Cup garage has a solid argument to back their economic demands for NASCAR. Unless a favorable settlement is reached soon between the higher-ups and race teams, this debate will keep on raging.