Surely most NASCAR fans have heard about 23XI Racing contesting the charter agreement. The situation has escalated to such an extent that the team skipped out on signing the deal despite the deadline. Everyone wants to know how this will end, and the only other team to follow in their footsteps is Front Row Motorsports.

But one fact that has just surfaced is that despite all the other teams signing the agreement, not all of them wanted to do so. Hendrick Motorsports is one of the teams that were not completely on board with the deal, but taking their time to negotiate the terms, they decided to jump aboard.

Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin are amidst a media storm where everyone wants to understand what the status is on their signing the deal. The deadline has been crossed, and some fear that they lost their chance due to holding back.

Unlike 23XI Racing, Hendrick Motorsport, who are also not very happy with the way NASCAR has approached the upcoming charters, decided to sign the deal so they can secure a spot for next year. Of course, Hendrik Motorsports has more to lose as they have the full stack of 4 cars racing in the Cup Series, but that was not the only reason they went ahead with it.

According to Jenna Fryer, Rick Hendrick revealed why he went ahead with the contract despite not being 100% satisfied with it. “I was just tired,” said Mr. H, as he did not want to take on the exhausting deed that the 23XI Racing owners are facing regarding the deal.

Mr. H’s revelation came during a press conference announcing Kyle Larson’s participation in the 2025 Indy 500. At the event, Hendrick expressed his exhaustion from two years of exhausting negotiations with a weary sigh.

He said, “I think we worked really hard for two years and it got down to, you’re not going to make everybody happy. And I think it got down to, I was just tired. Not everybody was happy. But in any negotiation, you’re not going to get everything you want, and so I felt it was a fair deal and we protected the charters, which was number one, we got the [revenue] increase, I feel a lot of things we didn’t like we got taken out, so I’m happy with where we were.”

However for teams like FRM and 23XI, not having a charter deal in 2025 means that the team will have to face some financial burdens, such as getting cut out of the TV revenue. This also means that they do not have entry into every race and will need to qualify each car to get onto the starting grid. With all these talks about the charter deals, why are the teams unhappy with what NASCAR is offering?

The reasons behind teams shying away from the new NASCAR charter agreement

Many teams are unhappy with the changes in the charter deals, and one of the reasons is the fact that race teams will receive an increase in the payouts. Even the teams that finish last are entitled to at least $8.5 million. While the fact that teams are getting around double the money they were getting in previous seasons, the issue stands with NASCAR’s new TV deal.

• The TV deal is bringing in a 40% increase in revenue for NASCAR, and the teams believe that despite the hike in payouts, they are not getting enough of the pie. Despite the 40% increase in the value of the new TV deal, it appears that the distribution percentages may not have shifted significantly, if at all.
• This means that while the overall revenue pool is larger, the teams are not necessarily seeing a larger percentage of that increased revenue. It is not a cheap affair to run a NASCAR team, and for a young team like 23XI Racing, every dollar counts.

However, the RFK Racing co-owner cleared the air about teams being forced, saying, “Well, I don’t necessarily know where that’s coming from. Forced is a really strong term, but we are getting to a spot where it’s important to get these things settled,” to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. Now, it looks like not every team was shying away after all.

To balance his emotions, Brad Keselowski also said, “Certainly, respect their [23XI, FRM] decision-making ability…You know, for us, we felt it was right to do a deal and move forward.”

So now, one can say teams aren’t fully unhappy about the fact that the payouts being increased are not as significant as the revenue from the TV deal can accommodate.

Looking at how NASCAR is dealing with the situation, do you think that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports will get their way, or will they have to succumb to the deal? Share your thoughts in the comments below.