We all are familiar with that Twitter poll that drops after every NASCAR race, right? Or that long interview of a much-loved racer who answers 12 questions about their life and career. Yes, I am talking about The Athletic’s coverage of NASCAR. Its premier journalist, Jeff Gluck, is known for his race polls and the 12 Questions interviews. He also hosts The Teardown podcast along with colleague Jordan Bianchi. Both of these journalists work for ‘The Athletic’ but are not getting the recognition they should from their parent company, the New York Times.

The Times purchased the Athletic in 2022 for $550 million. The Athletic became its sole sports hub after the newspaper drew the blinds on its sports segment in July 2023. However, despite the benefits to The Times Guild, The Athletic employees have complained of discrimination. The most highly-regarded journalists of stock car racing are fighting to achieve recognition from their big brother guild. The objectives are to achieve crucial benefits for The Athletic to do what it does best.

NASCAR’s journalistic gems are in a crisis

The Athletic’s association with The New York Times is no mystery – advertisements for the latter pop up every time we scroll through a Kyle Busch interview piece or a NASCAR lawsuit article. However, that relationship is more strained than is visible to the common eye. The 2022 buyout added around 1 million paying customers to its expanding subscriber business. Yet, the Times seems to be treating their employees unfairly.

According to Rob Rossi, a senior Athletic writer who covers the Penguins and NHL, job protections and healthcare offered major grievances. Last year, The New York Times switched healthcare providers for Athletic workers without warning. Then, 20 Athletic employees lost their jobs in June 2023. S0 the sporting unit’s 200 employees have sent a letter to The Times’ management to recognize them as part of the union – the NewsGuild of New York. Athletic investigative reporter Katie Strang said, “The work we do is union work and we believe we should be afforded the same benefits and protections as the Times Guild members under their current contract.”

The NASCAR section is also making their voices louder in this protest. Both Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi have changed their Twitter profile pictures to display a powerful slogan: “Sports Jobs=Times Guild Jobs.” Their colleague Rossi further outlined the injustice that needs to be done away with. “They changed our URLs so our stories are now on the Times’ website… Changed our paychecks that now say The New York Times. They changed everything to The New York Times except that we are not allowed to say we work for The New York Times… There are 200-plus Athletic people in the United States who are essentially working for The New York Times.”

This unionization effort has paid dividends in the past, giving glimmers of hope to The Athletic.

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Inspired by the past

The NASCAR lawsuit has a somewhat similar element. Michael Jordan and Co.’s lawyer Jeffrey Kessler had worked on similar ‘antitrust’ cases before. He resolved three pending antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA, resulting in $2.75 billion in damages. Similarly, The Athletic’s current fight also has precedents to look back upon. The Times acquired Wirecutter, a product review website, in 2017 – and its 70 employees launched a unionization effort soon afterward. Then in 2021, the Times agreed to a three-year deal that involved pay raises for all Wirecutter employees, a cap on health-care costs, and other guarantees.

Over 600 tech workers under the Times waged a prolonged battle of three and a half years. The Times Tech Guild went on strike for eight days while elections were ongoing until the Times agreed to a three-year contract. So The Athletic’s hopes are shining bright, especially since its Times colleagues are lending support. The Times Guild’s unit council wrote a letter of support: “The choice that leaders at The Times made to close our legendary Sports desk tore a hole in our newsroom. While the damage that caused can never be repaired, bringing our colleagues at The Athletic into our union is a vital step in preserving rights that generations of employees at The Times have fought to build and maintain.”

As the protests intensify and the unionization effort progresses, let us see what results follow. Hopefully, our NASCAR gems will win the battle well in time for superb coverage of NASCAR’s 2025 season.