NASCAR starts season with new champion, off-track dispute
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. >> NASCAR launches its new season with rivals attempting to dethrone Team Penske after two years atop the Cup Series while a off-track battle over revenue sharing threatens to overshadow the competition.
Teams report to Daytona International Speedway this week for Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500 without a new agreement that has been a sore spot for months. Talks on extending the charter agreement — which essentially is a franchise system in the top racing series in the U.S. — took a backseat to NASCAR’S negotiations on the new, $7.7 billion television deal that begins next year.
The current charter agreement expires at the end of this season. The teams declined to extend exclusive talks with NASCAR into February. They could theoretically race for another series if the situation deteriorates, though the challenges there would be immense.
Members of the negotiating council for the teams say they want a fair share of NASCAR revenue, do not believe the TV deal was as lucrative as NASCAR expected and believe teams are getting shut out of licensing agreements that should be shared.
Denny Hamlin, the three-time Daytona 500 winner for Joe Gibbs Racing and co-owner with Michael Jordan of 23XI Racing, used his podcast to accuse NASCAR of using the TV package negotiations as a stalling tactic.
“We tried to start these conversations two years ago and it’s just been delay, delay, delay. So now here we are at the end of the rope,” Hamlin said. “Do I believe we are closer to a deal now than 12 months ago? I don’t think so.”
While ia deal will likely be reached — NASCAR, after all, controls most of the major racing facilities in the United States — the discontent could make for a strained season.
Blaney the face of Ford, possibly NASCAR
Ryan Blaney is the reigning Cup champion after a late-season surge helped him follow Penske teammate Joey Logano with back-to-back NASCAR championships for Roger Penske. Blaney’s title was somewhat surprising largely because Ford teams struggled last year with just eight wins in 36 races.
But Blaney held off Hendrick Motorsports drivers Kyle Larson and William Byron, as well as Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing, to win his first career championship.
Blaney is NASCAR’S dream champion, a bluecollar racer from a family of racers rooted in the mill country of northeastern Ohio. He seems soft spoken but showed he’s got the internal fire to be a champion and delivered down the stretch last year.
He was beaten by good buddy Chase Elliott in the fan-voted NASCAR most popular driver contest, but Blaney is the one guy many believe — if marketed correctly — is NASCAR’S next star.
Ford, meanwhile, introduced a remodeled Mustang for Cup competition this season. Ford will use the Dark Horse model as it attempts to pick up its performance with top teams Penske, Stewart-haas Racing and RFK Racing.
Toyota expansion
Toyota has been looking to add more teams to its stable and does so this year with Legacy Motor Club, the team co-owned by Jimmie Johnson. The move keeps Toyota development drivers Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek with the automaker, as well as nine races for Hall of Famer Johnson, who starts his season with the Daytona 500.
Toyota always expects all four of its Gibbs entries to make the playoffs and 23XI saw both Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace make the playoff field last season.
Like Ford, Toyota also rolled out a new design for its Camry and the XSE will race in 2024.
Kyle Larson plans the double
Larson fell short of a second Cup title last year but is poised to have another magical season. His year is centered around the Indianapolis 500-Coca-cola 600 double, the longest day in motorsports over the Memorial Day weekend.
He will drive a Hendrick Motorsports entry fielded by Mclaren Racing, which has been impressed so far with Larson car.