On Friday afternoon, NASCAR President Steve Phelps and Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Donnell delivered the annual State of the Sport address at Phoenix Raceway. As always, there was a wide range of topics discussed, but key topics included the ongoing charter negotiations between NASCAR Cup Series teams and the sanctioning body, the next media rights deal, the power of star drivers and points affecting competition impact short distances and street courses.
Here is a breakdown of the highlights from the media session.
Charter negotiations/media rights agreements
One of the biggest behind-the-scenes storylines in NASCAR is the ongoing negotiations between NASCAR Cup Series teams and the sanctioning body surrounding the charter agreement that has been used in the NASCAR Cup Series since the 2016 season.
Teams get more frustrated every year trying to make a win. Teams are reportedly trying to negotiate a larger share of television revenue in the next deal. However, there are growing concerns that the Charter agreement may no longer exist in 2025.
Phelps addressed this, saying that negotiations are still ongoing but nothing concrete can be decided until the next media rights deal is fully finalized.
“I think the first thing we need to do is enforce our media rights,” Phelps said. “I think the race teams saw that. Against this background, we are currently in discussions with our racing teams. Last Wednesday we had a meeting with a team owners council where the entire meeting was about charters and charter renewals.”
NASCAR reflects the sentiment shared by racing teams that the organizations should be more profitable than they are now, it’s a matter of finding that balance.
“We realized that we want to change the paradigm for our racing teams and we need to ensure that our racing teams are profitable and competing on the racetracks. We are interested in seeing their shareholder value increase, as I said,” Phelps said.
When asked about the charter agreement potentially being permanent, Phelps said he couldn’t provide specifics in the negotiations but believed the teams and NASCAR would find common ground.
“We won’t get into negotiations specifically, but I would say that I’m confident that the teams and NASCAR will come to an agreement that is fair for the racing teams, fair for NASCAR and helps grow the sport. “I think that’s true about what we’re going to do,” Phelps concluded.
While the next media rights deal has not yet been finalized, the process is nearing completion, according to Phelps.
“Our media rights and the level of interest in maintaining our media rights for 2025 and beyond have exceeded our expectations,” said Phelps. “We expect that not only will we have a great result with our Xfinity Series on the CW and an incredible 33-race program on television, but we will also have a very strong result with the media.” Partners that consider a combination of broadcast, cable and streaming to some extent.
“I don’t know what that looks like. Are we nearing the end of this process? “
Short Track/Road Course Competition Package
While last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway definitely showed promising signs that the next-gen car in its current form can race well on short tracks, a tremendous amount of effort has been put into finding the key to improving the Products can be found on short distance race tracks and road courses throughout the season.
Multiple testing sessions involving a range of splitter and underbody components have yet to make much of a difference. Many drivers and fans have suggested increasing horsepower on the short track and road courses to allow for better racing.
Until Friday, NASCAR had always somehow rejected those proposals. On Friday, they seemed a little more open to discussion.
“I think everything is up for discussion,” O’Donnell said when asked if increasing horsepower was an option. “We have proven that. You also have to consider the costs involved, right? potential new OEM and technology. It’s not just a short-term answer.”
While not closing the door on improving the performance of the next-gen car, O’Donnell said there are a few other points NASCAR wants to address before moving on to changing the horsepower numbers.
“We’ll look specifically at this in our next test and see what we can do,” O’Donnell said. “There will be variations. We also do some aerodynamic things with the underbody. There are a few things we found at Richmond from an aerodynamic perspective that might work too. There is nothing to report that we will do that. Open to anything, but I would say in the short term more around the gearing and the aero package.”
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