"I don’t believe we’re close" - Denny Hamlin addresses ongoing charter negotiations amid divided owner opinions

Denny Hamlin recently touched upon the NASCAR charter agreement for the 2025 season. The 23XI Racing co-owner, according to Bob Pockrass, admitted that the ongoing issue is still to be resolved, and he believes that the decision is still far away.

NASCAR introduced the charter system in 2016, and the idea behind it was to create stability in the teams and encourage business development. However, as of 2024, instability hovers around next season's Cup Series line-up as teams are yet to agree with the governing body about the charter agreement.

Chatters around the sport say that some owners have already agreed to terms with NASCAR, others, including Denny Hamlin, have not. When asked about that by Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass, Hamlin stated the same. Mentioning this, Pockrass wrote on X:

"Denny Hamlin said there is still work to do to get a charter agreement done: “I do not believe we’re close.” I said I heard from some owners/executives who said they feel it is close. Hamlin: “Some think we are and some think we aren’t."

Back in November 2022, Cup Series teams went public with their concerns that the percentage from the charter agreement was not enough. As per the agreement, Cup Series teams received 39 percent of the broadcaster contract, whereas 10 percent went to the tracks, and NASCAR received the remaining 51 percent.

However, things got complicated after NASCAR agreed to a $7.7 billion media rights deal with Fox Sports, NBC, Amazon, and Warner Bros Discovery in November 2023, one year after the Cup Series teams raised initial issues.

Following the new media rights deal, the Cup Series teams reportedly asked for $18 million per year from the charter agreement. Notably, Denny Hamlin recently revealed that teams such as 23XI Racing spend $18 million yearly to run a racecar, that too, without the drivers' salaries. Hence, one can argue why teams want their purse to increase.

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Denny Hamlin opens up about 23XI Racing's NASCAR charter plan

Denny Hamlin (11) races during the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. (Source-Imagn).

On the latest Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin opened up about his team 23XI Racing's plan with the charter agreement. The JGR driver stated that the Michael Jordan co-owned team would want a fair deal, but a decent deal.

"NASCAR's got their stance, and the teams have theirs. We'll just see where this goes over the next few weeks," Hamlin said. "It's never been great, you know I think personally from 23XI's perspective, we would take a decent deal, not even a fair deal, just a decent one, and from our standpoint, its got a ways to go." (53:13; 53:28-53:37)

Hamlin is all set to compete in the NASCAR playoffs this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He will take on his fellow Joe Gibbs Racing drivers as well as 23XI driver and regular season Cup Series champion Tyler Reddick.