Back in 2016, NASCAR debuted a major change to its system when they introduced charters. Over here, this system allows teams to have a guaranteed spot on the NASCAR grid and a piece of the revenue made by the sport. All this can be achieved without fear of dissolving early due to lack of funds. Since then, it has been a blessing in disguise for many smaller teams. Admittedly, the deal is expiring this year, so all teams were negotiating a new deal. Now it appears that IndyCar also wishes to adopt this charter system, but their last couple of attempts fell flat.

According to Penske Entertainment, owners of the NTT IndyCar Series, the sport is trying again after last year’s attempt failed. This time around, it seems that the third time’s a charm because the IndyCar entrants met earlier this week and had a discussion. According to reports, those discussions have ended with positive signs.

Why will this charter system help IndyCar?

Currently, IndyCar does not boast of a solid financial structure. As a result, IndyCar team owners have no individual entries to own or sell. CEO of IndyCar, Mark Miles, as per RACER said, “We did talk quite a bit about and there’s been a lot of phone calls already since yesterday, with team owners about our commitment to developing a charter system. The way we explained it to them is that we’ve put out a couple of different concepts for charters in previous team owner meetings, and frankly, not been very close to consensus on what it might look like.”

The idea was that IndyCar would alongside a small group of team owners get a plan developed. From there, the hope is that their idea of a charter system will be adopted before the Indianapolis 500. Of course, nothing specific was outlined, but Miles Brought up general thoughts on the concept. According to him, the full-time teams in 2024 will make up the initial charter members.

Of course, this move has faced resistance from the fans. Penske Entertainment kept them in mind, but the IndyCar team owners were keen on having protected Indy 500 starting positions. It is also worth mentioning that elements like car counts and the long-time Leader Circle program will factor in. This program usually pays guaranteed prize money to the top 22 finishers in the Entrants’ championship.

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While all this is happening in IndyCar, things have gotten a little complicated for NASCAR. As mentioned before, NASCAR’s current deal is expiring, so everyone is locked in negotiations. Unfortunately, there have been multiple negotiation window pushbacks since last year, as no one could come to an agreement. It has now officially reached a stage where teams allowed the negotiating period to expire without an extension.

All this comes on the back of NASCAR inking a $7.7 billion media deal from 2025 through 2031. The signees were Fox Sports, NBC, The CW, Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery. Once that concluded, it was the teams’ turn to negotiate with the sport on a new governing agreement. Of course, the teams want a bigger slice of the financial pie to improve their business model. This is mostly because these models are sustained by corporate sponsorship.

NASCAR was sympathetic but floated the idea of a budget cap to curb spending. When the original negotiating window expired at the end of 2023, there was a one-month extension. Unfortunately, it transpired that teams unanimously agreed to not extend their agreement with NASCAR. While the sport does not need a majority or unanimity, the fact that all teams are on the same page is concerning. In the worst-case scenario for NASCAR, teams could opt to join other racing series. This is a situation reminiscent of F1’s FOTA vs Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley dispute in 2009. Hopefully, NASCAR can resolve its issues, and IndyCar also joins the charter bandwagon.