Category: friday feature

By David G Firestone

I had something prepared for this week, but that’s getting pushed back to next week. Two things that I’ve previously talked about have had updates. First, Front Row Motorsports and 23XI Racing have jointly filed a lawsuit against NASCAR. According to The Athletic, Jayski and Fox Sports:

“Two NASCAR teams, including one owned by basketball icon Michael Jordan, accused NASCAR of being a monopoly in a joint antitrust lawsuit filed Wednesday morning in federal court.

23XI Racing, the team co-owned by Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, joined with Front Row Motorsports to allege NASCAR and its CEO Jim France have used “anticompetitive and exclusionary practices” to “enrich themselves at the expense of the premier stock car racing teams.”

NASCAR did not offer an immediate comment as it is reviewing the filing.

The teams claim that while even the winningest organizations struggle to break even, NASCAR has unlawfully blocked the formation or growth of any other series — thus forcing competitors “to accept take-it-or-leave-it economic conditions” in order to participate.

The lawsuit seeks details from NASCAR and France “related to their exclusionary practices and intent to insulate themselves from any competition.” Jeffrey Kessler, a top antitrust attorney said he would ask for a preliminary injunction that will enable the two teams to compete in 2025 under the new charter agreement while the litigation proceeds.

The teams said they will seek treble damages for anti-competitive terms that have ruled the sport since the initial 2016 charter agreement.

In a teleconference Wednesday morning with reporters, Kessler said that this case has similarities with other sports antitrust litigation where a fundamentally unfair system has been created for the participants. But this case also has a major difference – the France family (one small group of individuals) controls NASCAR.

“There is no other major sport where one family has run that sport as its own personal fee stub and piggy bank the way that NASCAR has been run,” Kessler said.

“We will see what impact that has in terms of how they try to defend themselves. We will see what impact that has in terms of whether it’s possible to settle this case or whether we have to take it all the way through trial — either way, we’re prepared to do what’s necessary to effectuate change.”

Both teams said they would continue with their 2025 plans.”

We all saw this coming. We all knew it was going to come and it has. I’m actually shocked it took as long as it did. NASCAR strong arming the teams into signing the new deal was not a good look, and oh man, has it backfired. The charter system was doomed to fail, and NASCAR has made their teams into serfs.

I do not see NASCAR coming out on top here. There is more than enough evidence that NASCAR is a monopoly on American stock car racing. They pretty much control the stock car market in the US. Their big mistake is that they tried to bully Michael Jordan. Jordan has more money and power than many state governments, and he doesn’t take people disrespecting him. This is going to be a good fight. A lot of lawsuits like these get settled or end because one side, if not both, don’t have the funds to continue. With Jordan and NASCAR, this isn’t an issue. I’m going to invest in a few dozen boxes of popcorn to watch this match.

Speaking of watching matches, AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery announced Wednesday, that they had signed a new TV deal. In a press release, Warner Bros. Discovery said:

“Warner Bros. Discovery and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) today announced a multi-year renewal of their highly successful five-year relationship with an expansive multi-platform media rights agreement that will provide fans with the widest available access ever to AEW’s most popular programming.

WBD’s networks and platforms will remain the exclusive home of AEW Dynamite (Wednesdays on TBS) and AEW Collision (Saturdays on TNT), with enhanced distribution rights across social platforms as well as building opportunities for additional AEW programming for linear and digital platforms in the future.

Additionally, for the first time, all AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision programming starting January 2025 will stream live exclusively on Max (U.S. subscribers only). All AEW programming airing on WBD’s networks will also be available to stream on demand on Max.

AEW and WBD will also collaborate to distribute AEW live pay-per-view events on Max at a discounted price per event, with all marketing and promotions of those PPV events exclusively centered on Max. AEW PPV distribution on Max will begin later in 2025, with additional information and pricing to be shared in the coming months.”

Ok, this one I get. AEW isn’t getting what they were, but it isn’t a total loss, like moving to a streaming only platform. I did notice a little detail that wasn’t mentioned in the press release. AEW Dynamite will continue Wednesdays on TBS. AEW Collision will continute Saturdays on TNT. What about AEW Rampage? Is Rampage going away? If so, oh well. Let’s be honest, Rampage was always an afterthought when compared to Dynamite. It became even more of an afterthought when Collision came to be. Rampage never did ratings remotely comparable to Dynamite and Collision. So it seems that Rampage will go away, at least according to the press release. And nothing of value was lost.

Well like I said last time, if anything changes, I will discuss it later. Next week, a discussion about egos.

Sources Cited:

23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports file lawsuit against NASCAR UPDATE 2

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nascar/michael-jordan-23xi-racing-front-row-sue-nascar-charter-deal

Click to access 23XI-vs-NASCAR-Petition-KTT-WM.pdf

https://www.wbd.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-all-elite-wrestling-establish-new-era-professional-wrestling-multi-year

By David G. Firestone

I’ve got a couple of stories this week about IndyCar. Sadly, neither of them paints the series in a good light. Last week, I discussed the new NASCAR charter system, and the seemingly never-ending series of issues it seems to cause. It’s been like that since the beginning, and it just keep getting worse. It all came to a head when NASCAR pretty much strong-armed the teams into signing the new charter, which all but two teams did.

Well, what better time for IndyCar to announce their own charter system? On September 23, IndyCar announced the formation of a charter system. According to IndyCar.com:

“INDYCAR confirmed today the establishment of a charter system across the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. In total, owners of 10 teams have accepted charters for 25 entries competing in North America’s premier open-wheel racing series, beginning immediately.

“This is an important development that demonstrates an aligned and optimistic vision for the future of our sport,” Penske Entertainment Corp. President and CEO Mark Miles said. “I want to extend my sincere appreciation to our team owners for their collaboration and ideation throughout this process. Ultimately, we’re pleased to have a system in place that provides greater value for our ownership and the entries they field.”

This is the first charter system to be introduced in the history of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. A chartered entry is guaranteed a starting position on the grid at all NTT INDYCAR SERIES races, excluding the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. An entry also must be chartered to qualify for the annual NTT INDYCAR SERIES Leaders Circle program – an annual award program that compensates the 22 top finishers in the prior year’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship. The terms of the initial, long-term charter agreements are committed through the end of 2031.”

The next day, IndyCar also issued a self-asked “Q&A” about the system, but that really didn’t add much. Racer.com and Marshall Pruett actually gave some more information:

“The charter creates an exclusive club for the NTT IndyCar Series’ season-long entrants, the first of its kind for IndyCar — different to the franchise system from the former CART IndyCar Series — that provides its members with a range of benefits, including the ability to sell or seek investors in their charters.

Penske Entertainment retains permanent ownership of each of the 25 charters that were distributed. With its approval, which also includes receiving a percentage of any sales, Penske will welcome new entrants to the series, or the sale of charters from one member to another, which grants guaranteed participation in every IndyCar race for those who ‘own’ charters, barring the Indianapolis 500.

The structure is an important one for the 10 teams as each of their two to three charters bring a new monetary aspect to participation in the series. Prior to the charter, teams entered and left the series at will, and in the case of teams that were voluntarily shuttered or simply went out of business, they had nothing of significant value to sell, other than their cars and racing equipment, to recoup their losses or profit from on their way out of IndyCar.

As RACER has chronicled throughout the year, the charter — which runs through 2031 — uses a numerical structure of 25-22-3.

The number 25 was selected as the total amount of charters to be created. The number 22 refers to the decades-old Leaders Circle program, which pools the majority of each season’s prize money and splits it evenly across the top 22 entries in the annual Entrants’ championship. Where every team that participated in the most recent season was eligible to receive a $1 million Leaders Circle contract, only the teams with charters are capable of securing contracts starting in 2025.

Of the 25 charter entries, the top 22 will continue to get the $1 million contracts, leaving the three lowest charter entries on the outside of the Leaders Circle payouts; the process resets at the start of each new season.

The Leaders Circle program is not a profit-sharing system. Teams, despite receiving money from the series for being in the top 22, have had no ownership stake in Penske Entertainment to receive profits from, nor does the new charter program come with an ownership component within the company for the 10 teams.

A maximum of three charters per team have been released, with the results of the 2023 IndyCar Entrants’ championship results being used by Penske Entertainment to determine which teams and how many charters would be given to those teams.

The breakdown of charters per team starts with AJ Foyt Racing (2), Andretti Global (3), Arrow McLaren (3), Chip Ganassi Racing (3), Dale Coyne Racing (2), Ed Carpenter Racing (2), Juncos Hollinger Racing (2), Mayer Shank Racing (2), Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (3), and ends with Team Penske (3).

The last number of interest is 27, which will be enforced starting next season as the new entry limit per race, except for the Indy 500, but RACER has confirmed the 27-car cap is not contained within the charter. If it had been included in the charter, Penske would have been obliged to honor that number through 2031.

By leaving it out and making it the domain of IndyCar’s sporting regulations, the series’ parent company has given itself the latitude reduce the cap in the coming years to no more than 25 cars — to match the number of charters – which is expected throughout the paddock.”

First off, the timing of this announcement could not have been worse, given the issues and “resolution” of the NASCAR Cup Series charter negotiations. Did this announcement really need to be announced when it was with all of this bullshit going on? You really couldn’t have waited a couple of weeks for the official announcement?

Second, does IndyCar see what is happening in the racing world and think “This idea suck, let’s make it worse?” I challenge anyone to find those in NASCAR who have anything good to say about the Charter system. It was a terrible idea, it was poorly implemented, and it didn’t really help the smaller teams, given how many charter teams have gone under since its inception. Even the top teams in the sport are struggling to turn a profit under the old system, and I fail to see this new charter having any other effects.

Except that the revinue-sharing aspect. Going back to the Racer.com article:

“The Leaders Circle program is not a profit-sharing system. Teams, despite receiving money from the series for being in the top 22, have had no ownership stake in Penske Entertainment to receive profits from, nor does the new charter program come with an ownership component within the company for the 10 teams.”

Unless there is some details which haven’t been made public as of the time of writing, there doesn’t seem to be any financial gain for the teams with this new charter system. I could be wrong here, and if I am, I apologize, but outside of some guarantee spots and something called the “NTT INDYCAR SERIES Leaders Circle program.” To quote another Marshall Pruett Racer.com article, this one from July:

“With Penske Entertainment’s guaranteed prize money distribution system — one that was devised in the mid-2000s by the Hulman George family, the former owners of the series — the top 22 entries in the final standings are eligible to receive the contracts worth approximately $1 million apiece.

The Leaders Circle structure limits eligibility to a maximum of three cars per team, which only affects the five-car Chip Ganassi Racing squad, so outside of CGR’s No. 4 entry for Kyffin Simpson and the No. 11 for Marcus Armstrong, its other three entries, along with the full-time cars at IndyCar’s nine other teams, are in play for those 22 payouts next year.”

Again, unless there is something I’m missing here, there really isn’t that much to gain from this new charter, except guaranteed entries to races. So what’s the point? Remember that of the 25 charted cars, only 22 can be part of the Leaders Circle, so three teams are getting hung out to dry. Also the guaranteed entry into the Indy 500 doesn’t really make sense, since it’s rare that any of the top teams fail to qualify. So, again I ask, what’s the point here? If there is some financial gain from this system I could agree with it, but the one thing that makes the most sense seems to be absent. I hope that I’m wrong, but this makes no sense.

Speaking of bad press and bad looks, IndyCar was also dealing with more serious issues. On September 18, 2024, The FBI raided the headquarters of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing shop in Zionsville, Indiana. According to Marshall Pruett and Racer.com:

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation dispatched agents to the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing shop in Zionsville, Indiana on Wednesday morning.

The FBI is alleged to have instructed employees within RLL to leave their computers and related electronic devices in place, gather their belongings, and depart the building as agents began an investigation.

The source of the investigation is alleged to involve a former employee of the Andretti Global IndyCar team, who left the team to join RLL in a senior engineering role, and the alleged transfer of intellectual property from their former team to their current team.

“We are cooperating fully with investigators,” said the team in a statement issued on Wednesday evening. “Given that this is an ongoing investigation, we are limited in what information we can share right now, but we intend to provide additional information as soon as we can.”

The FBI is also alleged to have visited the Andretti shop in August to look for proof of possible IP-related improprieties.”

If all of this is true, and given the fact that there is clearly enough evidence for a search warrant to be issued here, Rahal Letterman Lanigan is in deep shit right now. If there is enough evidence that this employee did transfer confidential information, then there are serious charges a coming! The team isn’t in the clear, since this information was uploaded to their computers. Personally, if I were a member of Rahal Letterman Lanigan, I’m sweating bullets right now. If I’m a sponsor, I’ve got more than a few questions. I think there may be serious issues a coming, and IndyCar does NOT need any more bad looks right now.

But this also brings to mind the moronic idea of banning non-compete clauses. This is why. An employee got fired from one race team, stole confidential information, and brought it with them, and uploaded it after getting hired by another team. This is the exact reason a non-compete exists in this day in age. Companies are really worried about the security of their information and intellectual properties, and a situation like this is proof.

The FTC and their chair Lina M. Khan stated the following for the ban:

“Noncompete clauses keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism, including from the more than 8,500 new startups that would be created a year once noncompetes are banned. The FTC’s final rule to ban noncompetes will ensure Americans have the freedom to pursue a new job, start a new business, or bring a new idea to market.”

I get FTC Chair Khan’s reasoning. But if individuals have access to top level information, not meant to be seen by the competition, this approach could do more harm than good. I really think that this story will be interesting, and I’m going to follow this as it happens.

With that, I’m done for the week, and I’ve got some stuff for next week.

Sources Cited:

https://www.indycar.com/News/2024/09/09-23-Charters

https://www.indycar.com/News/2024/09/09-24-Charter-QA

https://racer.com/2024/09/23/indycar-charter-program-launches-after-final-team-owners-sign/

https://racer.com/2024/07/19/indycar-leaders-circle-race-heating-up/

https://racer.com/2024/09/18/fbi-agents-carry-out-operation-at-rll-headquarters/

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes

My Thoughts On The Current NASCAR Cup Charter Situation

By David G. Firestone

Well, the NASCAR charter fiasco has reached its peak. On September 7, NASCAR presented its final charter offer. According to Jayski and Sports Business Journal:

“The term of the charter agreement is for seven years starting in 2025 and commensurate with NASCAR’s new media rights deals that begin next year, meaning teams who signed on did not get the permanency of the system they had been negotiating for in recent years. Teams are getting more revenue as part of the deal, which stems from NASCAR getting a 40% increase in its media rights agreements worth $7.7B. For example, the last-place charter got around $4-5M annually in the old charter agreement from 2016-24, while that will go up to around $8.5M in the new version from 2025-31, people familiar with the matter said.”

NASCAR then gave the teams an ultimatum to sign the new deal. Of the 15 teams, 13 signed the charter. Some were happier than others, but most realized, in the words of Justin Marks:

“It’s been kind of a living document that has changed a lot as these conversations have taken place. But for me, and I can only speak for me, in the back of my mind, if they don’t put a deadline on it — well, the deadline is when we go racing next year — if the day doesn’t come when finally someone goes ‘we’re done here and we’ve taken as long as we need,’ then it will never come and it will never end. So me, personally, as we’ve had these conversations, I was anticipating the day that NASCAR would come and say ‘this is it. We’re done. We’ve addressed all these issues and you know where we won’t move, we’ve agreed on 90 percent or 75 percent of it (so) it’s time to get this thing done and start building our future together.

I think everyone can interpret it in their own way,” Marks said. “For me, regardless of how you want to build a narrative around it. Ultimately, it’s NASCAR’s sport and they said, ‘We are done negotiating here, this is the deal, it’s not going to change.’

“Ultimately, we had to make a decision and I looked at that and I said, ‘I’m not going anywhere so we’re going to sign it.’ You can interpret that anyway you want. Every team and team owner has their own relationship with NASCAR and mine, the philosophy of mine is always coming from a place of partnership and collaboration so I don’t necessarily feel like it was that way.

Rick Hendrick had this to say:

“I think we worked really hard for two years and it got down to, you’re not going to make everybody happy. And I think it got down to, I was just tired,” Hendrick said. “Not everybody was happy. But in any negotiation, you’re not going to get everything you want, and so I felt it was a fair deal and we protected the charters, which was number one, we got the (revenue) increase, I feel a lot of things we didn’t like we got taken out, so I’m happy with where we were.”

The two holdouts who didn’t sign were 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports. For some reason, these two teams think they can hold out for better terms. Why? I have no idea. 23XI is owned, in part, by Michael Jordan. Say what you want about Jordan, but you can’t argue he doesn’t know how to negotiate. He also has the star power of Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, and co-owner Denny Hamlin. Them holding out could work, since they do have star power.

Front Row is a different story entirely. In the Cup Series, they have a total of four wins in their entire existence since 2005. To put that in perspective, Tyler Reddick has four wins for 23XI Racing in the last two years. Front Row is not a powerhouse team by any definition. What makes this strategy even more perplexing is that Front Row is trying to buy a charter from Stewart-Haas. I can’t see this working out to well for them.

Front Row has no leverage whatsoever. 23XI has some leverage, but with 13 teams signing the agreement, they don’t have as much as they think. The other teams realized that this had to end at some point, and signed the deal. NASCAR strong-armed their teams into signing. While this isn’t a great look, they really didn’t have any other options. It is what it is really.

Realistically, this was the only outcome. Everyone was tired, everyone was at the end of their rope, and the outcome was, well, meh. Sometimes the best outcome is just a stalemate.

If anything changes, I will talk about it next week. If not, I will probably discuss the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing situation. We’ll just wait and see.

Sources Cited:

Is a charter agreement imminent? UPDATES

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/09/08/nascar-charter-23xi-racing-front-row-motorsports?publicationSource=weekendrap&issue=02e4f665af3748efb18a8d38d8c2fe5a

Rick Hendrick, Justin Marks comment on charter agreement

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/09/06/nascar-cup-series-charter-update?publicationSource=sbd

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/09/03/nascar-looking-to-wrap-up-charter-negotiations?publicationSource=sbd&issue=ffc261c61ff24ea88d1cf1f13295b2e4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23XI_Racing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_Row_Motorsports

By David G. Firestone

So for this week, I’m going to discuss the upcoming 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule. There are a few changes, which are, according to Wikipedia:

“-The Busch Clash will move to Bowman Gray Stadium in 2025, replacing the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It will be the first NASCAR Cup Series race held at the track since 1971.
-Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez will host a points paying race, becoming the first points paying Cup race outside the US since 1958. Richmond Raceway will lose a date to accommodate this change.
-The races at Gateway Motorsports Park, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, will be added to the playoff schedule. As part of this schedule change, Watkins Glen International, Homestead–Miami Speedway, and the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, will move to the regular season.
-The Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be the opening race for the new NASCAR in-season tournament.”

I’ve discussed how much I love the idea of Bowman Gray hosting the Busch Clash and how I think it should lead to historical tracks hosting the Clash. I’d also like to see something like this in both the Xfinity Series and Truck Series. I hope this goes forward.

I like the dea of Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez hosting a points paying race, however I think that Richmond should have been kept on, and a different track, preferably a 1.5 mile track been removed. I hope this may also extend into Canada.

I will discuss my feelings on the Chicago Street Race on a latter date.

With the good out of the way, now let’s about this bullshit “tournament.” Here is how this tournament will “work” as explained by Wikipedia:
-“The NASCAR In-Season Tournament is an upcoming multi-phase tournament that will be conducted among drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. It is scheduled to debut in the 2025 season.

-Format

-The tournament will consist of eight races.

-For the first three races, all full-time drivers in the series are eligible to compete. Race winners will automatically qualify for the bracket, and be joined by the drivers with the best finish in any of the three races, with ties to be broken by total race points. The 32 drivers with the best performances move on to the next phase of the tournament. The seeding races will be streamed on the new package to be shown on Amazon Prime Video.
The last five races will be conducted in a single elimination bracket. In each round, the driver in each match-up with the better finish advances, while the other is eliminated. This process will continue until only two drivers remain; the driver with the better finish in that race will be the tournament champion and win a $1 million bonus. All of these races will be shown on TNT.

-In 2025, the first race of the bracketed portion will be held at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 28.

-The In-Season Tournament will be the second $1 million bonus event in the Cup Series, joining the NASCAR All-Star Race.”

First off, moving to Amazon Prime is going to cost NASCAR a lot. A lot in terms of viewers lost, money lost, sponsorship lost, and fans lost. If you are going to try something this audacious, why not have it on actual TV. This is another example of NASCAR focusing on what they want, as opposed to what they have. This will not go over well with the NASCAR fan base. I have no confidence in Amazon Prime Video for NASCAR.

Second, while I get the bracket format, it works for the playoffs. This random tournament, with nothing on the line except money isn’t really good. Especially the 1v1 format of the last five races. 10 drivers, 1v1 elimination, until two drivers are left. Why not have the same bracket as the playoffs?

Here’s my idea: I like the general idea of how to qualify: For the first three races, all full-time drivers in the series are eligible to compete. However, I would only have the top 20 drivers in points, all arranged by points, both regular and playoffs.

From there, I would do this: 5 races, top 20 drivers in points, all arranged by points, both regular and playoffs. Each race, the bottom 4 drivers get eliminated. 4 races, 16 drivers eliminated. Last race, highest finishing driver wins. There is no reason you need 32 drivers in a single-elimination bracket. If we have to actually do this horseshit, why not make it simple. Make it easy to follow.

Also, shouldn’t there be something more than money as a prize? I’d add some points to the mix. Other than that, there really isn’t much on the line. Realistically, there isn’t any reason this has to happen to begin with, but at least make it worth the effort. Money and points, at least that gives incentive. I just don’t get this at all.

I’ve at least praised IndyCar for moving from NBC to FOX in 2025! That was a smart move! The Peacock-only races are not doing well, and fans are not happy, so this is an improvement. NASCAR is taking a major step back, and IndyCar is taking a major step forward.

To top all of that off, since I have Directv, I can’t watch F1, since it’s on ESPN, and Directv and ABC are in a pissing match. It’s just not a good time to be a racing fan!

With that, I’ll be back next week.

Sources Cited:

https://www.jayski.com/nascar-cup-series/2025-nascar-cup-series-schedule/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_NASCAR_Cup_Series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASCAR_in-season_tournament

Normal content will resume next week.

By David G. Firestone

Hello one and all, this week, I have three stories out of NASCAR this week. The first features the 2025 Clash. On August 17,the new venue for the 2025 Clash has been revealed, and I love this move! This is from NASCAR.com:

“Today, NASCAR announced The Clash will come to historic Bowman Gray Stadium for the first-time as the opening exhibition event for the 2025 season on Feb. 2. The announcement was made by Ben Kennedy as part of pre-race for tonight’s NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series event at the racetrack. This will mark the first NASCAR Cup Series event at the racetrack in 54 years. The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium will be broadcast live on FOX.

“Bowman Gray Stadium has a storied history in motorsports, so we look forward to bringing the Cup Series back to this revered racetrack for the first time since 1971,” said Kennedy, Executive Vice President and Chief Venue & Racing Innovation Officer, NASCAR. “As NASCAR’s first weekly racetrack, Bowman Gray Stadium holds a special place as the original home to grassroots racing. With a history of intense competition, we are proud to host The Clash at the ‘The Madhouse.”

If this leads to the Clash being held in smaller, historical racing venues that never get any real national coverage, then I’m all in! I love this idea! It’s the idea that SRX was founded on, and the Clash would do these venues wonders! I hope this idea works, and I hope its expanded on. No more football venues, more classic racing venues!

Now we move on to Jack Link’s. I like beef jerky, even though I don’t eat it all that much. I’m more of a meat-stick man myself. Jack Link’s has been a staple in the ever-expanding beef jerky market. On August 22, NASCAR made the following announcement:

“Today marks a moment worth savoring, as America’s No. 1 motorsport and the nation’s No. 1 meat snack brand join forces to help race fans feed their wild side. NASCAR and Jack Link’s together announced that the U.S. meat snacks market leader has become an Official Partner of NASCAR through a multi-year agreement set to begin in 2025.

As the Official Meat Snack of NASCAR, Jack Link’s will activate across multiple areas of the NASCAR ecosystem including at-track, social and digital media, and radio and television. Jack Link’s will also leverage the NASCAR relationship at retail, as the company continues offering consumers a wide amount of real, high-quality protein snack options that span multiple flavors, formats, sizes and sub-brands.”

First off, I had to cut a lot of marketing bullshit out of the quote I used. Second off, I like the idea of an official meat snack sponsor, will this drive away other meat snack sponsors? The Cup Series did away with entitlement sponsor exclusivity, but other series may still have it. NASCAR and its teams are in desperate need of sponsorship, and any move that jeopardizes them isn’t a good move.

This isn’t an idle threat. Sunoco bullied Shell into reducing the size of their logo on Kevin Harvick’s car after a Daytona 500 win. Sprint bullied both Verizon and AT&T out of car sponsorships. Is it really out of the realm of possibility that there may be the threat of Jack Link’s using their power to bully a sponsor, particularly a regional, low power meat snack company out of a car sponsorship? Possibly, there certainly a precedent for it.

This is my issue with “Official partners of X” across the board. Even if a team has a deal with a sponsor, sometimes this leads to issues. With NASCAR, and racing in general, this can, has, and will lead to teams and sponsors getting screwed. The incidents I talked about have been a drop in the bucket. Again, will Jack Link’s bully other meat stick sponsors? I hope not, but time will tell.

Now, for the final story, we go back to the Hooters VS Hendrick Motorsports saga. While Hendrick and Hooters had parted ways due to the struggling chain losing money, closing locations, and not paying Hendrick, the saga took a turn this week. On Thursday, August 22, lawsuits were filed, according to the Charlotte Business Journal:

“An entity affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports is suing Hooters of America LLC for $1.7 million, plus interest, for alleged unpaid sponsorship fees.

HMS Holdings LLC filed its complaint against Hooters on July 30, according to Mecklenburg County court records. The lawsuit was filed just weeks after Hendrick Motorsports dropped Hooters as a sponsor, citing the restaurant chain’s failure to meet its financial commitments. Hooters had sponsored Chase Elliott’s No. 9 car in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2017. Hendrick Motorsports is suing Hooters for breach of contract and unjust enrichment.

The complaint states that Hooters was obligated under the sponsorship deal to pay Hendrick Motorsports four installments annually totaling $1.75 million. The 2024 payments of $437,500 each were due on March 10, June 10, Aug. 10 and Oct. 10, court records state. The NASCAR team operator alleges Hooters made a partial, $45,000 payment in March before failing to make the June payment.”

Basically, Hooters signed a contract with Hendrick, refused to honor the terms of said contract, and is getting sued. Hendrick lived up to their ends of the contract, and Hooters didn’t. Hooters really doesn’t have a leg to stand on here. Hendrick will win, or at least take a nice settlement. Not a bold prediction, but just the truth.

This downfall of Hooters is glorious indeed. Hooters is a concept whose time has passed. Their wings are mediocre, the whole “sexy waitresses flirting with men while serving food” concept has been obsolete for a good long time. Other such companies have gone under, and it’s only a matter of time before Hooters goes under. Other chain restaurants that have better food than Hooters have gone under, so why should I feel bad for Hooters?

If you are the kind of person who actually likes to eat at Hooters, explain to me why? When it comes to wings, Buffalo Wild Wings blows Hooters out of the water. When it comes to their other offerings, Chili’s and TGI Fridays are better. Why would you eat at a place with mediocre food, when there are other places that have superior food? It boggles my mind that in 2024, with all the options we have, that an outdated, mediocre place like Hooters still exists. As I said, it’s only a matter of time until Hooters disappears, and I can’t wait.

With that, this week’s column is over, and I will work on something for next week.

Sources Cited:

Season-opening Clash exhibition heads to Bowman Gray Stadium in 2025

2025 Clash to be held at Bowman Gray Stadium

Jack Link’s partners to become official meat snack of NASCAR

Jack Link’s jumps into wild world of racing with new NASCAR partnership

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2024/08/22/hendrick-motorsports-sues-hooters-lawsuit-nascar.html

Hendrick Motorsports ends sponsorship with Hooters UPDATE

By David G. Firestone

Welcome back. I was only going to talk about my thoughts on the NASCAR 2025 Cup Series TV deal, and I will, but before that, I have to talk about the end of the Richmond race. I had to deal with things during the week, so I didn’t get around to talking about this. As we all know, on the last lap at Richmond, Austin Dillon wrecked both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to collect the win. Hamlin and Logano were upset, and made their feelings known after the race.

This naturally sparked a series of debates on if Dillon’s actions were justified. The responses were all over the place. Some felt that Dillon was justified in doing what he had to do to win the race, much the same way Dale Earnhardt Sr. did on more than a few occasions. Others felt he went too far and could have caused more damage and injuries. Many were calling on NASCAR to take action, and they did.

On Wednesday August 14, NASCAR.com released the following:

“NASCAR officials ruled Wednesday that Austin Dillon’s win at Richmond Raceway would not count toward eligibility for the Cup Series Playoffs. The decision arrives three days after the Richard Childress Racing driver bashed his way to victory by crashing Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap of Sunday’s Cook Out 400.

Dillon’s penalty was the most severe of a handful of those issued after Sunday’s race, which was decided by a chaotic last lap of overtime. After a full review of footage and data, NASCAR officials ruled Dillon’s victory would stand, but that his automatic berth in the 16-driver postseason field would be voided for violating Section 12.3.2.1.b of the NASCAR Rule Book, which deals with playoff eligibility and states: “Race finishes must be unencumbered by violation(s) of the NASCAR Rules or other action(s) detrimental to stock car auto racing or NASCAR as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR.”

Dillon and the No. 3 team also were docked 25 points in both the drivers’ and owners’ standings, dropping Dillon from 26th to 31st in the former rankings. Officials also indicated that the rescinded playoff eligibility for Sunday’s win applies to both the drivers’ and owners’ championship.

NASCAR competition officials also suspended Brandon Benesch, the No. 3 team’s spotter, for three Cup Series races for his guidance of Dillon atop the grandstand roof. A review of transmissions from the No. 3 team radio revealed Benesch saying “wreck him” as Dillon battled alongside Hamlin with the checkered flag in sight.”

While Joey Logano was justifiably upset, his reaction didn’t do himself any favors. Going back to NASCAR.com:

“Logano was fined $50,000 for his actions after the race, when he spun the tires of his No. 22 Team Penske Ford in anger near the RCR No. 3 team’s pit box. That show of disgust — a violation of the member code of conduct for compromising the safety of others — sent celebrants from Dillon’s team scattering on pit road and drew a stern rebuke from NASCAR officials at the scene.”

RCR appealed the penalty, but said appeal was denied.

While I get the win at all costs mentality, and I get Dillon’s desperation to make the playoffs, NASCAR had no other choice here. Dillon could have caused serious damage and/or injuries to other drivers or even fans. The era of “checkers or wreckers” ended a long time ago, and safety should be the top priority. Any intentional action that compromises safety should be punished harshly.

Also, while I get that Joey Logano was upset, his actions could have been much more damaging, potentially injuring crew members, officials, or members of the press. I get his anger, but he left NASCAR no other choice.

Now we get to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series TV deal. I’m sticking to what I said last year. Here is the meat of the deal that starts in 2025.

FOX Sports and NBC Sports will return. Each will carry 14 events.

The FOX Sports portion of the Cup Series schedule, which kicks off the season with The Busch Light Clash followed by ‘The Great American Race,’ The DAYTONA 500. This will include races on both FOX and FS1.

FOX Sports’ coverage will also include live events for the entire NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season. This is the best thing to happen in this deal…provided they get Jamie Little out of the booth.

NBC Sports’ coverage of the Cup Series will encompass the final 14 events of the season, including the Playoffs and Championship race. These races will air on NBC and USA.

Both partners will feature a mix of broadcast and cable events, with five Cup events airing on FOX and four on NBC annually. The remaining events will air on FS1 and USA Network, respectively.

In addition, two new partners, Prime Video and TNT Sports will evenly split a series of 10 mid-season races. Both have also obtained exclusive rights to practice and qualifying sessions for the entire Cup Series schedule through 2031.

Prime Video will stream practice and qualifying live for the first half of the season through their last race of the mid-season series.

TNT Sports will host the next five mid-season races simultaneously broadcast live on TNT and streaming on the Bleacher Report Sports Add-On on Max. Practice and qualifying for the remainder of the season will stream on Max and air on truTV.

Well, they did exactly what I thought they were going to do, which is precisely what I thought they shouldn’t do. TNT is a sports powerhouse, but many NASCAR fans aren’t exactly fond of their classic “sell as many ads as humanly possible” style of broadcasting. However, as they will be broadcasting on traditional television, it’s defend-able.

With Prime Video, however, NASCAR decided to put the horse be cart. As we saw with the NFL’s Peacock only game, fans were PISSED! Many fans who pay for NFL-created streaming platforms couldn’t watch through those platforms. Well, this is what’s going to happen for NASCAR.

As I’ve said before, NASCAR should focus on what they have, instead of what they want. Well, they’ve shit the bed with this new deal. Fans are irate, and justifiably so. Why? At the time of production, Amazon Prime Video is Prime Video membership is $8.99 per month. With a five race package, that would mean that fans will have to pay a total of $17.98 to watch five races. which amounts to $3.60 per race.

In addition since many TV sets aren’t automatically of the smart variety, and some cable services don’t offer apps with certain packages, this is going to limit how many fans are going to watch. Remember, the streaming-only tactic has been tried with the Honda Indy Toronto in IndyCar, and the viewership numbers were so low that Peacock was too embarrassed to release them. The number was so bad, neither IndyCar or Peacock would release them. Let that sink in…go ahead, I’ll wait…

With that, I do understand why NASCAR isn’t doing a Peacock-only race for that reason. It should also be noted that Peacock might be on the way out sooner rather than later. Early last year, I claimed that Peacock would lose $3 billion in 2023, the losses are actually $2.8 billion. They lost $200 million less than last year. Let that roll around in your head for a bit. How anybody could justifiable losing over $6 billion in three years is perplexing, and how much longer Peacock can last is questionable. There was a short period where sports streaming was at its peak, but that ship has sailed.

Again, NASCAR should have focused on what they have instead of what they wanted. This new deal is going to run off more fans…which, given how they are currently losing fans, is the worst move. Why? Well…

Remember, NASCAR’s core fan base is traditionally lower-income blue collar conservatives. The are much more traditional in views, and, in addition, might not have the money for a five race Prime Video package. Many don’t watch on cable as opposed to broadcast.

Let’s take a look at the cable losses for 2023.

-2023 FS1 LOSS -1.08 rating -1,962 million

-2023 USA LOSS -0.38 rating -0.774 million

-2023 TOT LOSS -0.64 rating -1.389 million

When you take those yearly losses into consideration, why is blocking out 5 races to your whole fan-base a good thing? I at least gave NASCAR credit for their deal with the CW. I also like that the Truck Series is back on FS1, but they need a new lead announcer.

Bottom line here is that this new move isn’t a good move, and this will run off fans. It’s not a good look at all.

I may or may not do a column next week, I may have something to take care of. I will be back soon though.

Links cited:

NASCAR officials drop Austin Dillon from Cup Series Playoffs; Logano fined

NASCAR officials drop Austin Dillon from Cup Series Playoffs; Logano fined

NASCAR officials drop Austin Dillon from Cup Series Playoffs; Logano fined

NASCAR officials drop Austin Dillon from Cup Series Playoffs; Logano fined

https://www.nbcsports.com/nascar/news/nascars-steve-phelps-discusses-future-media-rights-package-schedule-horsepower-status

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/football-fans-irate-exclusive-peacock-game-f-k-you-nfl

https://variety.com/2023/streaming/news/peacock-30-million-subscribers-peak-losses-1235820372/

https://www.cagesideseats.com/aew/2023/12/13/24000092/tony-khan-updates-aew-media-rights-negotiations-wbd-ring-of-honor-cw-streaming

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/the-cw-new-strategy-explained-1235486774/

By David G. Firestone

So I’m back with four news stories that I felt that I needed to discuss. These aren’t in any particular order.

The first is the controversy of Hendrick Motorports and Hooters. Long time NASCAR fans know that Hooters has a long history sponsoring teams, drivers, and races in NASCAR. Hooters has sponsored Alan Kulwicki, Loy Allen Jr., Rick Mast, Brett Bodine, Jason White, Derrike Cope, Nelson Piquet Jr., Greg Biffle, and, most recently, Chase Elliott.

Well, the sponsorship with Chase Elliott came to an end on July 1, 2024. In a statement, Hendrick Motorsports stated:

“Hooters has been a valued partner of Hendrick Motorsports since 2017, contributing to our shared successes both on and off the track. In recent months, however, Hooters has not been able to meet its business obligations to our organization. Due to these unfortunate and unexpected circumstances, and despite extensive efforts on both sides to identify a workable solution, it became necessary for Hendrick Motorsports to end the relationship. It has been a privilege having Hooters as a part of our team and we wish them the best.”

The Jayski article has also noted that: “Hooters has struggled recently and just announced the closure of 44 locations nationwide.”

Let’s be honest, Hooters sucks. Their wings are meh, and there are plenty of other places that make better wings. The whole “hot women serving food” trope has been going out of style for years, and justifiably so. Hooters is another example of a product from a bygone era that is struggling to stay afloat. It’s just not good at all, so this comes as little surprise. Sometimes the end of an era is a good thing, and this one of those times. Goodbye Hooters, you won’t be missed.

Speaking of sponsorships, its come out that NASCAR is looking for a fifth “premier partner” for the Cup Series. Currently, the four premier partners are Xfinity, Geico, Coke, and Busch Light. According to Jayski, these partnerships are $15 million for 2-3 years, and Geico and Xfinity’s deals are soon to expire. NASCAR is working to resign, but is also looking for a fifth partner.

According to Jayski:

“Xfinity Mobile is a key product for Comcast and figures to be an important part of the next deal. Xfinity currently spends more than $10 million in the sport annually, all told, according to sources. The major question is whether Comcast will continue being both a premier partner of NASCAR and title sponsor of the Xfinity Series. Sources say it’s possible Xfinity could do a short-term renewal as title sponsor before shifting its relationship in the coming years to just being a premier partner.

Geico also is said to be in renewal discussions, and industry executives have waffled all year on whether the Berkshire Hathaway-owned insurer will renew. The company has had a multitude of executive and agency changes in recent years, which often equals change in sports marketing deals.”

All of this is understandable, but here is one my questions…Why aren’t Goodyear or Sunoco premier partners? The official tire and gas providers aren’t premier partners…why? How? Wouldn’t those two be perfect fits for the new premeir partners? Second How will this affect the charter negotiations? I honestly thought that the deal would be done by now. Let’s say that there is a fifth partner brought on before the end of 2024. Would the teams leverage for more money? There is already issues with a potential Netflix special being derailed due to charter negotiations. So how would this potential deal affect them? We will have to wait and see.

Now we get to the Grau Gauldng suspension. This was something i’ve had bookmarked for some time, but never got around to. We start on April 2.

According to TobyChristie.com:

“Gray Gaulding, a part-time competitor in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, was arrested by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office at 7:17 AM ET on Tuesday, April 2 on Misd. Crime of Domestic Violence. Gaulding was released at 12:42 PM ET on Tuesday, April 2. The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the arrest to TobyChristie.com.”

The next day,NASCAR issued this statement:

“NASCAR officials issued an indefinite suspension to part-time driver Gray Gaulding on Wednesday evening.

The Charlotte (N.C.) Mecklenburg Sheriff’s Department listed Gaulding among its arrest records Tuesday. According to department records, the Cornelius Police Department arrested Gaulding on Tuesday morning on misdemeanor domestic violence charges. Gaulding was released from custody later that afternoon.

Gaulding has made 158 career starts across all three NASCAR national series, none of which have come this year.

The final update came on July 25, this one from Queen City News:

“A domestic violence charge has been dropped against a suspended NASCAR driver in Mecklenburg County, court records confirm.

Dwayne ‘Gray’ Gaulding Jr. had been charged with a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence for an incident that allegedly happened back in April.

In court on Thursday the charge was ‘voluntarily dismissed,’ according to documents.”

Well, it’s not like NASCAR lost anything of value. Gray Gaulding isn;t a powerhouse, he’s a back of the pack jack. He’s not in demand, and his career is really over by this point. Why waste any more time on him then?

With that, this week’s column comes to and end, and I will discuss the upcoming WWE and NASCAR broadcasting deals.

Sources cited:

Hendrick Motorsports ends sponsorship with Hooters

https://x.com/KellyCrandall/status/1807796747378315637

NASCAR looking at adding fifth premier partner

Gray Gaulding arrested on crime of domestic violence: UPDATES

https://tobychristie.com/nascar/xfinity-series/gray-gaulding-arrested-on-crime-of-domestic-violence-charge/

NASCAR officials issue indefinite suspension to Gray Gaulding after arrest

https://www.qcnews.com/charlotte/suspended-nascar-driver-in-court-on-domestic-charge/

By David G. Firestone

So with this week’s column, I really struggled with how I was going to go about this. Sure there were some news stories I thought should be discussed, but I’m going to push them back. There really isn’t any other story that needs to be discussed other than the John Force wreck.

Let’s start at the beginning. In 2024, John Force had two wins, The Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, and The NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway. Force looked to be a championship contender…up until The Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.

At that race, during the first round, Force suffered a serious engine explosion and a crash. Though he was alert, clearly talking with paramedics, it wasn’t until he got to the hospital that he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, amongst other injuries. He was in ICU for some time, with reports stating he was having cognitive issues, and has since been released, and is recovering at home.

2012 Funny Car champion, and friend of the site, Jack Beckman has been tapped to replace Force for the rest of the season, though, at the time of writing, no plans beyond 2024 have been announced.

After thinking this over, I’m thinking that this might be the critical incident that causes John Force to retire from Funny Car, at the very least, full time. John Force is 75 years old, and while he’s still great behind the wheel, he’s no spring chicken. Force toyed with retirement during the COVID-19 pandemic, not racing the bulk of the 2020 season, returning in 2021.

This however, may really be the end. John has raced in drag racing since 1971. He was racing before many of the current competitors were born. In terms of wins and championships, he has more than anybody in the professional categories of the NHRA. He really is the greatest of all time. Nobody will ever argue that. Even fans who hate him respect what he did behind the wheel.

Father time however, waits for no man, and respects no racing records. Every career has an expiration date, regardless of who you are or what industry you are in. Force has had one of, if not the longest professional careers in auto racing. His records speak for themselves, and he has been an ambassador for the sport. But, again, all good things must come to an end.

I do feel bad for John Force. I’ve met the man, and had a few conversations with him, and he is the best mouthpiece for the sport. He’s also the last of the old-school tough guys in racing. They just don’t build them like they used to. Force will continue as a team owner, and he may race every now and again, but his full-time career is more than likely over. I will miss him as will many other fans.

With that, I will continue with racing news next week.