NASCAR president Steve Phelps and chief operating officer Steve O’Donnell held the sanctioning body’s annual “State of the Sport” address Friday at Phoenix Raceway.
In a typically wide-ranging news conference, Phelps and O’Donnell talked about the playoff system, future schedules, new manufacturer interest and the short-track package (among many other topics).
In response to a question from NBC Sports’ Dustin Long, they also addressed the manufacturer manipulation in the Nov. 3 race at Martinsville Speedway that drew massive penalties. O’Donnell said there was a “1,000 percent” chance that next season would include new rules to address such shenanigans.
Phelps also made a brief statement about charters but declined to answer questions about the antitrust lawsuit filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports (a judge ruled against the teams on an injunction motion Friday). With Stewart-Haas Racing having agreed to sell charters to 23XI Racing and Front Row for next season, Phelps said “I don’t know what’s going to happen. It would be speculating.”
FULL TRANSCRIPT: Click here for what they said in the state of the sport news conference
“Probably a lot of frustration that NASCAR over the last two and a half years has not talked about charters publicly or with the media,” Phelps said. “We’ve done that purposefully. We don’t believe the media is a place to have discussions about our negotiation with our race teams and our charter extensions. That was by design.
“We are not going to negotiate in the media about charters ever, and we are very happy that 32 of our 36 charters were extended. We are excited about that because ... primarily the big win for the race teams was money, and I won’t go into what that money split looks like, but that amount of money now puts the race team starting in ’25 as the single-largest beneficiary of our media deal. We did that because the race teams were upside down financially.”
Here were the highlights of their 40-minute address, organized by topic:
New manufacturer interest
Phelps: “Yeah, we’ve had a number of discussions. We’re in different phases depending on the OEs (manufacturers). Right now we’re in discussion with several OEs about coming in. I won’t get into exactly where those are and who they are, but we have an OE that is close. That OE has buy-out from those that are in the racing portion of that. So it really just comes down to the business portion and can we strike a deal that is advantageous for them and for us? Are we the right fit for their brand?
“But I’m cautiously optimistic, and then we need to being accelerate the other discussions we’ve had because I think, in our opinion, five is probably the right number of OEs. Obviously we’re at three right now. We are a couple of years away. It takes a while obviously to get up and running, but we’re excited about it because we would like to have another OE or two. So do our existing three OEs (Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota). They want to have additional competition from additional OEs for a number of reasons.”
Future of championship race and schedule
O’Donnell: “So the championship is a hot topic, but as we talk about it, it’s very difficult to replicate what we see this weekend (at Phoenix). The atmosphere, what goes into it, the crowd that shows up consistently. As we look and consider other venues, all of that has to come into play.
“So Miami certainly has been one that we’ve looked at (to return as that title race). I would say that in March when we go back, how do we do from an attendance standpoint? That’s going to be really big for us to see can we gain some momentum. We already know the racing is terrific. We are going to deliver on that, but we have a job to do collectively as a sport to drive attendance.
“Then you look at a number of other venues that are out there: Darlington, Charlotte, Vegas. There’s a lot of considerations for us. I think the goal for us would be to get well ahead in the future on the schedule so that we’re talking about not necessarily the whole schedule, but (saying) ‘The championship (in) 2032 will be here,’ and we can back that up. A lot of work to do this coming year, but I think Ben (Kennedy) and his team are really looking to really advance that forward.
“On (more 1.5-mile tracks on future schedules) I will say you’ll have more of the same balance. I think we really like the balance we have right now. You could see maybe a tweak here or there, but for the most part it’s a good balance of all different types of racetracks.”
On tweaking the playoffs next year
Phelps: “We are always looking if there are opportunities for us to tweak something, so be it. We are not the only sport where the best statistical team does not get to the Final Four or the Super Bowl or the World Series.
“There was a huge emphasis put 10 years ago when the format was put into place about winning. Three of the four (in the Championship 4), they won to get through. I go back to the format itself I think creates incredible racing. So if we are all going to be honest and say, ‘Hey, how has the racing been during the playoffs in these nine weeks?’ I don’t think it’s been ever better.
I think part of that is due to the system itself. They race their guts out. Tyler Reddick two weeks ago, Ryan Blaney last week, Chase Elliott trying to get in, (Kyle) Larson trying to get in. Racing their guts out. I think it provides great, great racing for our race fans.
O’Donnell: “It’s fair to say we have talked about this, too. The format is one thing, but we’re not going to go away from playoffs. We read (what fans say) and everything. We’ll absolutely look at what form the playoffs take in the offseason. You always learn. But as Steve said, you cannot argue with the quality of racing that the playoffs have delivered. You can talk about the format if we do some different things, but absolutely we’re going to stick with it.”
On officiating contoversies in 2024
O’Donnell: “Can you name one sport that doesn’t have officiating questions throughout the year? So absolutely, every year we address those, and I think a lot of it is around technology, right, and a lot of it is around format. One of the biggest ones that we saw consistently was the Damaged Vehicle Policy. Through really no fault of trying to, in essence, save the industry money, we created a challenge in terms of how we officiate. That’s something we want to continue to investigate, and I think one of the biggest things you want to do is how do we continue to use technology in real time to notice what may or may not be occurring on the track. Address that as soon as possible, but I don’t believe we have an officiating issue at all. I think we have the best and the brightest in the business. Yes, we make mistakes. They’re humans. Hopefully, we’ll never get to just AI making calls, but we will make adjustments.
“I think if (we) are not up talking before the Daytona 500 about adjustments we’ve made, then we haven’t done our job because that’s what we always do in the offseason.”
On short track racing improvements
O’Donnell: “Yeah, what we saw at Martinsville was a result of a ton of hard work from Goodyear. Like NASCAR with aero packages, we don’t always get it right, but it’s not without studying and putting a ton of effort into it. Goodyear’s efforts throughout this year, be it a rain tire, a softer compound, I think Martinsville nailed it.
“So, yes, we’ll build upon that for future. As we look at kind of the road course and how that played out with short tracks and lean pretty heavily on Goodyear in the future, but they’ve proven to us that they can deliver. I think the challenge is potentially always going softer. We always hear from the industry that ‘Softer, softer, softer,’ but yet, if there’s a tire problem, (Goodyear is) the first to get blamed. That’s unfair because they’re trying to put out a great product on the street, and an even better product in terms of racing. So they both go hand-in-hand. Our job is to push them. They continue to deliver, but I think that’s what you’ll see is more from Goodyear.
On international expansion beyond Mexico City in 2025
Phelps: “We’re excited to go to Mexico City. As I said, I think we will have a packed house. We’re going to see some great racing. Our intention is to stay there past next year. We kind of typically look at a three-year deal and see how that works, and if it’s continuing to work, we go to Year 4 or 5 or 6 or whatever that might be. Have we had discussions with folks in Canada? We have. Would I like to see us go to Canada? I would. I think schedule variation works, and it’s proven that it works. It works from an attendance standpoint. It works from a ratings standpoint. Not insignificantly, it works from kind of a brand standpoint, what it means to be bold and innovative and do things differently and change things up. That drives success.
“I think that’s what we’ve tried to do as a sport is do those things. And not just schedule innovation, but other things as well. So I anticipate further expansion.”
