HAMPTON, Ga. — Less than a week after one of its drivers won the regular season championship, 23XI Racing has rebuffed NASCAR’s efforts to sign a new charter agreement.
23XI Racing, which is co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, stated on Saturday:
“23XI decided to not meet a NASCAR-imposed deadline (Friday) night to sign Charter agreements for its two cars for 2025-31. 23XI’s position, as stated in a letter to NASCAR, is that we did not have an opportunity to fairly bargain for a new Charter contract.
“We notified NASCAR what issues needed to be addressed, in writing, at the deadline. We are interested in engaging in constructive discussions with NASCAR to address these issues and move forward in a way that comes to a fair resolution, while strengthening the sport we all love.
“At 23XI Racing, we remain committed to competing at the highest level while also standing firm in our belief that NASCAR should be governed by fair and equitable practices.”
NASCAR had no comment Saturday, a spokesperson told NBC Sports.
The Athletic reported that Front Row Motorsports was the only other Cup team to join 23XI Racing in not signing the charter agreement by midnight Friday. The Athletic also reported that teams that did not sign the agreement could lose their existing charters.
Brad Keselowski, co-owner of RFK Racing, confirmed his team signed the charter agreement.
“We want to run NASCAR for a long time to come and signed the charter agreement, a statement to our commitment to doing just that,” Keselowski said Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Asked if he felt his team was forced to sign the deal by the deadline, Keselowski said: “I don’t necessarily know where that’s coming from but forced is a really strong term. But, you know, we are getting to a spot where it’s important to get these things settled.”
Hamlin was outspoken Wednesday during Cup playoff media day about where things stood with the charter agreement. He was more measured in his comments Saturday.
Hamlin said Wednesday: “I’m just trying to make (the sport) better than what it was and still try to grow it and it’s unfortunate. I wish I had a bigger role in it. Certainly, there’s been some changes that have happened around some conversations that you have, and I think NASCAR for a while has been very receptive to listening to advice and some things.
“But certainly, when it comes to dollars and cents, that’s where we’re in two different ballparks. As a driver, I’ve put in 20 years doing this and I feel like I’ve tried to do my best to grow social following, giving more content. Things like that. Trying to update the times, right?
“I tried to start a race team to build my legacy well beyond being a race car driver itself. Being part of the sport, investing in (NASCAR Chairman) Jim France, investing in NASCAR. You know, I’m doing my part, but certainly I think, probably from their standpoint, they just see me as a thorn in their side and more than likely would be better off without me.”
Hamlin conceded Saturday that it was “frustrating” that most of the other teams signed the charter agreement but said: “Every team does what’s best for them.”
Hamlin said that not having a charter agreement is slowing future plans. The team plans to sign Bubba Wallace to an extension beyond this season but a deal has not been done because a charter agreement is not formally in place. The team also is expected to expand to three cars next year but has not announced those plans.
“Anything in the future certainly is dependent on things like that,” Hamlin said of the charter agreement.
The new charter agreement is scheduled to last the same amount of the time as the new media rights deal.
There are 36 charters in Cup. A charter guarantees a team a starting spot in each of the 36 points races. The charter also provides payments to teams based on entering a race, performance in a race, finish in the car owner standings and historical performance based on a team’s finish in the owner points over the previous three seasons.
The current charter agreement is scheduled to end after this season. Talks between teams and NASCAR have taken place over the past two years. In October 2022, team representatives talked about a “broken” economic model that needed be fixed with the new charter agreement.
“The sustainability of the teams in this sport is not very long-term unless we have a fundamental change in the (business) model,” Curtis Polk, an investor in 23XI Racing and Jordan’s long-time business manager, said in October 2022.
At at event sponsored by Bloomberg on Thursday in New York City, NASCAR President Steve Phelps discussed charters and what NASCAR was offering teams.
“Really (it is doing) two things, driving more revenue or providing more revenue to the race teams, which is what we have offered to the teams, and then some form of cost containment,” Phelps said. “If you’re able to do that and (teams) are cash-flow positive, which they should be, collectively, next year with this new deal, financially, then it continues to drive enterprise value for them.
“I won’t get into what the values are today, but they are tens of multiples more than what they were even five years ago.”
When asked about charters becoming permanent, Phelps said at the event: “There won’t be permanent charters. If you look at F1, they have something called the Concorde Agreement. It’s five years.
“So, we want to make sure we have the opportunity with our race teams at the end of this current agreement, or whatever the future agreement is going to look like, to make sure that we can evaluate for all stakeholders what this is going to look.
“NASCAR has offered teams significantly more money from a revenue perspective. We need to make sure that all stakeholders are getting what they need as part of this. Whether that is drivers, racetracks, teams. The most important thing — and this is a true thing, which is we need to make sure that race teams are healthy. I know there are a lot of fans who don’t think … they don’t really care about charters, they don’t care about healthy teams, but they should.
“They should because it provides better racing for them. They’re the beneficiary of profitable teams. We want to work hand-in-hand with our race teams to make sure they are profitable and that the race teams and NASCAR and the tracks and our drivers are all helping to grow the sport collectively.”