Dale Earnhardt Jr. analyzes NASCAR's charter negotiation dynamics with $1.8B-worth Jim France and team owners

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently analyzed the dynamics of the stalled charter negotiations between Jim France and Cup Series team owners, expressing his fascination and curiosity about the future trajectory of these negotiations.

The current charter deal is set to expire at the end of 2024, with Cup teams and NASCAR failing to reach a common ground for the new deal. The Athletic reports that teams have four main demands - increased revenue split, permanent charters, increased representation in future decision-making, and share of revenue from new business opportunities.

In a recent episode of Dale Jr. Download, Dale Earnhardt Jr. presented his view on the ongoing charter negotiations. He suggested that while NASCAR is eager for progress and growth, Jim France, worth $1.8 billion (according to Forbes.com), is apprehensive about changing the business model and yielding to the team's demands.

"NASCAR and Jim France are kind of sitting here and going 'Hey we're not moving on your demands. We are going to stick to our guns.' And the teams are sensing they're going to get down to the last moment and there's going to be a pretty much a take it or leave it type of deal," Dale Jr. said on his podcast [1:15]

"There is an opinion that Jim France is very aligned with how his family has ran NASCAR, he's very traditionalist in how they run the sport."

The Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin co-owned 23XI Racing team has been vocal about the stalled charter negotiations and is a part of the "Race Team Alliance". Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes that if Jordan was not a Cup team owner, NASCAR would have been very close to striking a deal with the long-existing teams.

"Jordan and his team have come in from other forms of sport, where they see different business models and they're coming into NASCAR going 'Why are y'all running it like this...?' It seems like Jim France and NASCAR are a bit apprehensive to change the business model," Junior added.

Despite the bleak outlook, Dale Jr. remains hopeful that the stakeholders will meet in the middle and strike a new deal.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. regrets not buying Cup Series charters

Dale Jr., who co-owns the Xfinity team JR Motorsports, has expressed regret over not purchasing a Cup charter in the past. He deems the current trading price is too high for him.

During a recent discussion on his podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. expressed his frustrations about missing the opportunity to buy a charter. He said with a heavy note:

"Look, man. I’m frustrated that I, I don’t know man, it’s tough. There’s a lot there. I wish I had been smart enough to buy a charter when they were cheaper. That’s the first thing I want to say because I know anything I say after this, people are gonna go, ‘Well you had a shot, you had the chance. You missed your chance bud, it’s over..’ and I did." he said [9:10]

As Dale Earnhardt Jr. noted, charters were trading at $13 million three years ago, with the selling price now skyrocketing to $40 million.