NASCAR Charter Agreement: Are teams preparing for big change?

Since the TV deal has been finalized for 2025 and beyond, the next order of business is the NASCAR charters and renewing the agreement. Since the start of the 2023 season, NASCAR and the teams have been going in and out of conversations about the charter agreement.

The bad news, at least for teams, it doesn’t feel like they are going to get what they want. When introduced in 2016, the 36 team charters set up the “franchises” of NASCAR. With a charter, a team collects more TV revenue and purse money for each race. There are protections such as being able to start every race on the season regardless of qualifying.

36 charters for full-time cars and four open spots, if they are needed, for open teams. Those who race without charters typically run very limited schedules due to the high costs and lack of a real return on investment.

The last time a team put together a full-season effort sans charter was in 2021 with JTG Daugherty and Ryan Preece in the No. 37. Recently, The Money Team Racing said they would race with or without a charter in 2025 full-time. 3F is a racing team that plans on entering the 2025 Cup Series season part-time and possibly full-time in the future with or without a charter.

For team owners, keeping the charter agreement as is would be the perfect solution. However, given how long it has taken to make a decision, that doesn’t seem likely. Teams will probably have to make concessions.

However, it appears that a number of teams have been preparing for this moment. The NASCAR charters won’t change until 2025 and already there have been moves made as teams try to put themselves in the best position to succeed under whatever new agreement is put together.

NASCAR organizations adding unchartered cars

Since NASCAR added the charters in 2016, there have been non-chartered entries. In a few of those years, there was at least one full-time car without a charter. However, it has become apparent under the current rules and funding, that’s just too expensive to be viable.

However, since the 2022 season, we have seen teams that field full-time, chartered cars adding additional entries. If we’re honest with ourselves, Trackhouse Racing has been the leader in this latest movement.

Adding that Project 91 car in 2022 brought excitement to the track. Kimi Raikkonen, an F1 champion, hopped in that car and put on a show at COTA that season. Then, in 2023, we saw Kimi return to the sport. Also, Conor Daly in the No. 50 TMT Racing Chevy. Jimmie Johnson was also an additional entry in the No. 84 for Legacy Motor Club.

Then, Trackhouse did the unthinkable. They put Shane van Gisbergen in the No. 91 at Chicago and he did not disappoint. He went out and won in his debut!

On top of the usual part-timers from Beard Motorsports and TMT Racing – 2023 was a season where Kaulig, Legacy, Trackhouse, Richard Childress Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and 23XI Racing all put together part-time cars in addition to their full-time lineups. RFK Racing is getting in on the action with the Stage 60 car and David Ragan at Daytona in 2024.

That is six organizations with charters racing non-chartered cars at some point or another in 2023 with RFK joining for next season. 2024 could really tell us what the future plans for some of these teams are.

Teams preparing for NASCAR charters to change

So, why are these teams putting together these extra efforts? Is it to keep current NASCAR drivers on their toes? One look at Trackhouse Racing, which has four drivers under contract and just two chartered cars, and you have your best example.

While many believe things are getting crowded at Trackhouse, I feel like they are getting themselves ready for growth, either with or without charters. No one outside of the team owners and NASCAR really knows how the charter negotiations are going. But, we can make some assumptions.

Trackhouse has Daniel Suárez, Ross Chastain, SVG, and Zane Smith under contract. In 2024, Suárez and Chastain are full-time, as usual. SVG is going full-time Xfinity racing with seven Cup Series starts. Finally, Smith is at Spire Motorsports, via Trackhouse on that new charter from Live Fast.

One would think in 2025, Trackhouse would need to buy one or two charters, maybe get rid of one of the drivers, and make some tough decisions. However, Trackhouse with SVG, RCR with Brodie Kostecki and Erebus Motorsports, as well as RFK Racing and the Stage 60 car. All seem poised to expand their driver lineups. Possibly in a scenario where non-chartered teams get a bigger piece of the pie.

By my count, we could have up to 10 open cars this season at some point or another. Six or seven of those cars are going to be fielded by organizations that possess NASCAR charters.

Since 2016, teams have tested the full-time non-chartered cars. Now, things are changing a bit. Teams bring drivers from overseas, both as fun one-offs and potentially as job interviews for the future. If there is a path for organizations to add teams without spending $40M+ on a charter, then they will take advantage of it.

Still, there will be owners who will be very upset if and when the NASCAR charters are changed for 2025.