“No Wonder Kyle [Busch] Sold the Team”- Racing Fans Livid as Insider Lets Slip NASCAR’s Alarming Tier Difference

Kyle Busch recently sold his truck team Kyle Busch Motorsports to Spire Motorsports. Though Busch released a press statement explaining his decision, many have still wondered about the actual motive behind the move. But now it looks like fans might have finally come up with an explanation and they’re certainly not happy about the payout discrepancies that they found!

News about financial inequality cropping up in NASCAR divisions is not new. Reports on pay disparity and disagreements between the NASCAR management and teams have, quite often, raised concerns about the long-term sustainability of the racing teams. And that is exactly what happened when motorsports journalist Bob Pockrass gave an insight on the payouts for the looming Talladega Superspeedway weekend race.

Fans support Kyle Busch’s truck team sellout amid pay disparity revelations at Talladega

Before Bob Pockrass gave fans an interesting insight into the upcoming Talladega weekend, he brought the words of a very candid Kyle Busch to light. As per the FOX reporter’s statement, Busch said, “When we started the Truck Series team back in 2010, I never imagined that we would be able to win 100 races with 18 different drivers and that one day I’d be racing in the Cup Series alongside so many of the drivers that I once mentored at KBM.”

Giving the reason why he sold his priced possession, Busch explained, “It’s important to me to be able to spend more time with my family and my No. 8 team at Richard Childress Racing.” But as it turns out, there might just be another untold and disheartening side to this story.

Recently, FOX Sports reporter Bob Pockrass took to X (formerly Twitter) to reveal payout details for the Cup Series and Truck Series races being held on October 1st and September 30th, respectively, at the Talladega Superspeedway. Differences in the payout were glaringly noticeable!

While the Cup series was allocated $8,806,315, the truck series seemed to be lagging far behind, with just $779,790 going into the drivers and team’s pockets.

People were quick to notice the alarming difference between the two divisions.

Not just that, fans also expressed their displeasure, and some even extended their support to NASCAR veteran Busch, who recently handed over the keys to his truck series team.

One fan said, “Raise the truck purse no wonder Kyle sold the team. You can only run red for so long.”

“I always wondered why @JRMotorsports didn’t do xfinity and truck. This pretty much answers that question.”

“How does the truck series even afford to operate and travel to the races?”

“I thought the Truck purse would’ve been at least over a million.”

“The truck series is broken from a business model perspective. Time to get them off the big tracks and back to no live pit stops. Get back to what created it.”

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However, this also raised questions about the larger financial picture at NASCAR.

Uncertainly looms over the NASCAR financial model

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The financial model at NASCAR has been a major talking point from time to time. There have been several instances of disagreements between the league and the teams. The latest dispute once again brought to the center the dissatisfaction that teams go through.

Revolving around the new media rights deal, both sides had been trying to negotiate the amount of revenue that teams should receive from the deal, as difficulty with sponsorships seemed to be on the rise.

Sponsors play a significant role in the day-to-day functioning of a NASCAR team. On any given day, teams rely on sponsorships for a maximum of around 80% of their annual revenue. But, with the sponsor pool potentially under threat because of the difficulty in obtaining them, NASCAR teams had been pushing for an increase in revenue, up from the 25% that they already received.

Following multiple rounds of negotiations, the deal may have gone through with NASCAR signing a 7-year contract with CW Network worth $115 million per year, but it still raises legitimate questions about the financial drawbacks concerning the divisions and the overall business model.

Late last year, sports agent and 23XI Racing team stake owner Curtis Polk also opined about the same.

“The economic model is really broken for the teams. We’ve gotten to the point where team’s realize the sustainability in the sport is not very long term. This is not a fair system,” Polk said.

With big names coming up to raise issues around the business model, there comes a question on the long-term viability of the sport. What do you think NASCAR management should do to tackle these disparities? Let us know in the comments!

Read More: Track Analysis: What Makes the Talladega Superspeedway so Notorious in the NASCAR Cup Series?