Sometimes you earn by doing, sometimes you earn by succeeding. In NASCAR, perseverance seems to trump performance as it announced the Charter teams heading into 2016 and beyond. It has everything to do with how tenacious a team has been in at least attempting to run, and absolutely nothing to do with their success, be it yesterday, today, or even at some future date.
Thirty-six teams need not worry, at least for the next three years, whether or not they will be racing each week in Cup action after NASCAR granted charters to 19 racing organizations. The agreement, which is slated to run for the next nine seasons, means that the holders of those charters will have no concerns, regardless as to how their seasons have gone or how they qualify. Good news for those seeking some guaranteed stability in their operation, knowing that they can tell sponsors and vendors that they will be running no matter what.
While 36 will be locked in, only four open slots will be available to anyone else. The field will be reduced from 43 to 40 cars, though when you consider that only a couple a dozen of them have any realistic chance of success any given week, the fans have not lost much.
Where they lose is that there are some bad teams that will not be going anywhere or replaced by anyone until at least 2025. The only way to lose a Charter is to finish among the three worst Charter teams for three straight years, and even then that would be at NASCAR’s discretion. If you want a Charter, you either got rewarded with one this week or you have to buy it. No Charters can be earned through racing performance. You can get the loan of one from a team for a single season, and that could happen with that particular Charter only once every five years. In addition, the maximum number of Charters an organization can have is four, the same number of cars they actually can own and operate.
NASCAR came up with the 36 charters after going over the past three seasons to determine which outfits were making the weekly commitment. The Wood Brothers No. 21, driven by Ryan Blaney, did not make the cut as that organization has been running part-time in recent seasons. Performance alone did not cut it, as the Kurt Busch ride, the Stewart-Haas No. 41 and the Joe Gibbs’ No. 19 team of Carl Edwards, also failed to qualify due to their relatively recent formations. Though Clint Bowyer’s entry made it, thanks to a million dollar Charter loan from Premium’s Jay Robinson, Harry Scott’s other car, the No. 46 of Michael Annett did not. With Michael Waltrip Racing going the way of the dodo, its two charters can be purchased from what is left of MWR. It is expected that Busch and Edwards will wind up as the beneficiaries of that.
Eight organizations, which include Petty, Hendrick, Roush, Gibbs, Childress, Penske, Stewart-Haas and Ganassi, have combined for a total of 942 victories. Two other teams, Front Row and Furniture Row, have a win each. That leaves eight, a list that includes such franchise entities as JTG Daugherty, Baldwin, Germain, Go Fas, BK Racing, Circle Sport and Premium Motorsports, all which have yet to taste the champagne. Meanwhile, the owners of cars driven by Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards, who both won twice in 2015, have to buy Charters to be locked in. Wood Brothers, returning to full-time operations after nine seasons, is an outsider. Those 98 wins, 116 poles over 1405 races since 1950 do not mean squat.
If one day all this equates into some sort of equality amongst teams, where today’s weak sisters grow and compete with the big boys, then fine and good. However, if we are left with a band of weak sisters at the expense of those who can demonstrate an ability to succeed, we shall all be the poorer for it.
Actually, JTG Daugherty with driver A.J. Allmendinger won at Watkins Glenn in 2014. The win made them chase eligible for 2014. Other than that, I agree with your comments. I find it sickening that MWR, which had already closed it’s doors and did not plan to compete in 2016, was awarded two charters while the Woods Brothers got none. This was plain and simple a gift, maybe more accurately described as a bribe, to Rob Kaufman.
I think that some type of franchising system has been needed in NASCAR for some time. I think about owners like Bud Moore, Junie Donlavey, Morgan-McClure Motorsports and many others who left NASCAR with nothing more than an auction sale of used equipment. This wasn’t right and it needed to be corrected. But the implementation of the charter system described is a joke.
Cotton
The part I don’t agree with is the fact a charter team can be outperformed and not loose their charter. If the Woods Brothers or another not charter team outperforms the bottom tier teams in points they should louse their charter after one year.This keeps the teams honest that earned the charters.
If an “open” team performs better than a Charter team, then a solution might be to award such a team a “provisional” charter for the remainder of that season after a certain number of races (5-7-10?) to at least allow performance to dictate who should be in. As well, having the teams of Kurt and Edwards having to spend over a million each to get a Charter (despite two wins each in 2015)in a massive red flag.
I completely agree with you on that James. I’d like to see a relegation-esque system where the lowest ranked charter team loses that charter to the highest non-charter team. I brought it up to Steve O’Donnell during the news conference the other day, but he said that they’re not in the business of taking charters away from teams.
So, are you saying HScott Motorsports only has one charter, and they had to “lease” that one from Jay Robinson?
That is my understanding. In fact, I had to update this article when that info came out.
No Mark. HScott Motorsports had one charter for the No. 51 car that was formerly owned by James Finch of Phoenix Racing. The leased out one is for the No. 46 car.
36 entries attempted the 108 races over the past three seasons. All of them received Charters. Waltrip sells his two to the teams of Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards while Robinson leases for a year his Charter to the team Ty Dillon will be driving for at Daytona, with Michael McDowell the pilot for the bulk of the season. It probably took this brain trust to come up with this scheme in about an hour, as long as they could put together a spread sheet.