re: 2024 NASCAR Season Thread - 2024-25 Offseason

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Fair retort.

There probably should be a change in how NASCAR gets paid by it's sponsors and disperse it more to the individual teams instead of it going straight into corporate's coffers.

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Nascar is in a catch 22 decision wise. If they want to grow the sport they likely do need to go international. But they can’t under current car count model.

They would need to reduce it to 36 which is the chartered teams. But that locks out new teams unless they buy an existing charter.

Many XFinity teams learn the ropes in the cheaper series and then decide to move up to Cup. If they changed to 36 charters that limits ability of teams to move from truck to xfinity to cup. So any decision for Cup will have a ripple effect in lower divisions.

They could possibly help Cup yet kill the lower divisions. Not sure what the answer is. Many Cup teams run Xfinity teams and even truck to find and groom new drivers. If they change things it might decrease how many Cup teams run junior teams which would kill those sports.

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Dale Jr.

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For sorantable, he was arguably the best restrictor-plate driver/drafter/superspeedway driver in the history of the sport. Other than his dad, obviously.

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Dale Jarrett

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Still underrated.

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Why not limit teams to 2 starting cars for cup series races.

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The money isn’t there to do this. 4 car teams get scale of economics. 2 car teams would be great but with current money no way would it work. Many big owners would leave the sport because of costs.

Probably true, I guess it is cheaper to just work together with another team to advance competitive equipment

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think doing it based on average finish at road courses for year the would work, you just the top X number of average finishes qualify to go...but how much notice for prep on the car, travel, etc would the teams near the bottom of the cutline need? I guess maybe NASCAR could furnish travel for a set number of people per team and arrange transport of the cars. And then what if a driver on a top team wrecks in one of the road course races, is hurt and misses another... that screws him on points for the whole year. I guess it could be an exhibition like the Clash, but I don't think we need more meaningless races.

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The problem with limiting amount of teams is many. Let’s just use HMS, 4 car team. Imagine if 1 of them is left off. HMS loses money. Sponsors would be pissed. Drivers lose out. Nascar has 36 chartered teams and no way could they leave any out, the repercussions would be huge.

What they really need to do is cut car counts/charters down. But that would be hard and take years. They could still allow up to 40 entries per race but maybe only have 30 charters. Of course that has issues as each charter would be worth more and thus make it even harder for new teams to break in.

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Of course that has issues as each charter would be worth more and thus make it even harder for new teams to break in.

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I think it would be better for the on-track product if it were harder for new teams to break in. The teams who can afford a charter are there to compete, not as an advertising business that runs at the back of the pack or as a hobby for some rich guy's son. But then if you reduce the number of charters and keep 40 cars you get more one-off backmarkers cruising around and potentially impacting the outcome of more races than they already do (which isn't a lot, but it does occasionally happen).

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I think if they can lure Honda, you will see Chip Ganassi come back. He's said he'd like to come back when the time is right.

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Maybe its been discussed, but idk why Dodge wouldn't want to put a Charger or Challenger out there against the Camaros and Mustangs. I know they are kind of a dysfunctional company though, so there might be other stuff going on there.

Honda for sure though. I really think we will see them at some point relatively soon.

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I think it would be better for the on-track product if it were harder for new teams to break in. The teams who can afford a charter are there to compete, not as an advertising business that runs at the back of the pack or as a hobby for some rich guy's son. But then if you reduce the number of charters and keep 40 cars you get more one-off backmarkers cruising around and potentially impacting the outcome of more races than they already do (which isn't a lot, but it does occasionally happen).

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This has merit. But it goes against what nascar was founded on. Bill Elliott for example, brought his cars on a trailer with his family helping him. If they up charters it makes it harder on lower divisions to break in. Say you are a Xfinity team and want to get to Cup. You can do some limited races and maybe get a bigger sponsor to go full time. But if they make 40charters you are locked out from even doing limited races. And then you have to buy a charter to get in but may not have the sponsor money. And charters would go up.

It may work for a few years but eventually it hurts the lower divisions and teams stop putting money into Xfinity. And then your driver pool shrinks. Its a complicated issue where all 3 divisions work together yet separate.

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Honda for sure though. I really think we will see them at some point relatively soon.

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I always figure Honda or Nissan would jump in and compete against Toyota.

So let's say Honda joins NASCAR. NASCAR awards 4 new charters. Increases the field size to 43 again.

Chip Ganassi returns to field a two car team. What other teams are likely to join a 4th OEM?

I can see Stewart-Haas since they're kinda stuck. But I can also see them sticking with Ford because Tony and Gene want to stick with an American OEM.