Insiders set record straight after teams feud with NASCAR over 'run what you brung' All-Star proposal

When the NASCAR All-Star Race format was announced, a rumor came out about a “run what you brung” proposal. In the end, the teams decided not to accept the proposal from officials. Denny Hamlin was a vocal critic.

The NASCAR All-Star Race was going to have a new wrinkle in it. At first, fans and the media thought the proposal would allow drastic changes to the car. Mike Forde of NASCAR then corrected the record that it was much more limited in scope.

Hamlin said it would cost $2,000,000 for his team to field three “run what you brung” cars at North Wilkesboro. Forde said that it could cost as little as $0 if teams used old parts.

Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic had strong reactions to the “run what you brung” rumors. This week, they are correcting the record a bit on the NASCAR All-Star Race.

“Here’s my thing, right? And this is where I do understand the team’s perspective,” Gluck said on The Teardown. “A little bit of it. Let’s say NASCAR said, ‘We were never going to let you do that, we were going to let you use current Next Gen parts. Okay? But we’re not going ot inspect it.’ That means that the teams will then cheat. They will then go, ‘Well, they’re not going to look.’ That’s one perspective, right?

“Another is that I think there was a lot of different information out there. Kyle Busch on DBC said, ‘Well, I heard they were going to let us open up the engines.’ That was not on the table. So, I talked to a lot of people in the garage this week. Some people talked to me. … Some team people say there is stuff we could do. ‘If you just let us do these small three things, we think it can make a difference.’ But other people are like, here’s the problem, again.

“Let’s say all the teams were allowed to do whatever, and they found something that worked for them. I was told by a team engineer, ‘Do you think we’re going to go then tell NASCAR what worked, and then them go tell all the other teams what we figured out?’ … So, there’s so many other things.”

Last week, Gluck was furious with teams rejecting this idea over money. He still believes that the excuse is not valid.

Jordan Bianchi explains NASCAR All-Star Race mixup

As one of the first journalists to report on the “run what you brung” proposal for the NASCAR All-Star Race, Jordan Bianchi has plenty of inside information. Bianchi echoed much of the same sentiments he had last week.

“I mean, listen, I said this last week, I’ll say it again,” Bianchi explained. “There was multiple people with bigger teams who said the same thing. Like, we can’t help ourselves. We just can’t help ourselves. Which again, and I talked to people on the NASCAR side, and they’re echoing your point, ‘This is the Next Gen car, this is why you should be thanking us. Because we’re preventing you from spending yourselves into oblivion.'”

If you open the door, the Hendricks, Gibbs, Penskes, and other big money teams would get carried away. They would spend untold money to get a faster car on the track than the rest of the field.

Even if it meant a monetary loss, teams would push the limits. So, the NASCAR teams decided not to go with it. Trying to save them from themselves.