"It has to make financial sense": Denny Hamlin on 23XI's charter talks following recent NASCAR proposal

Denny Hamlin recently shared his take on the NASCAR charter proposal. According to Hamlin, who co-owns 23XI Racing, the charter needs to "make financial sense" before he can agree to the terms and conditions.

Notably, a charter guarantees that a team can participate in a NASCAR race and earn money. However, according to recent reports, the team owners were not happy with the proposed charter agreement starting in 2025.

Denny Hamlin said on the Actions Detrimental podcast:

"It always has to make financial sense. I'm not going to put myself in a position where you know I'm having to shell out millions and millions of dollars to just keep this thing going. I'm not going to do that. I will not do that personally." (1:20:03)

Hamlin further added that NASCAR still had "a ton of work to do". When asked the same to Brad Keselowski, he revealed that he was yet to form a strong opinion on the latest charter proposal.

Denny Hamlin was also not a fan of NASCAR's other motive - to limit the number of charters a team can possess.

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Why are team owners, including Denny Hamlin, unhappy with the charter proposal?

NASCAR Cup Series Championship - Qualifying AVONDALE, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 04: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Toyota, speaks with staff member of 23XI Racing on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 04, 2023 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

The teams are reportedly unhappy with the new charter proposal citing that the current payout wasn't enough to cover the team's expenses. The team owners allegedly boycotted a meeting arranged by NASCAR to discuss the charter proposal last year.

According to Sportico, the current revenue from each charter was estimated at $8 million to $9 million per team. This was reportedly one or two million dollars less than the money it takes to run a single car per year.

Furthermore, NASCAR signed a new media rights deal reportedly worth $1.1 billion that starts in 2025. The new deal will reportedly run till 2031 and is 34% higher compared to the current $820 million media rights deal.

Naturally, teams want NASCAR to pay them more, which the governing authority is allegedly reluctant to agree on. All in all, it will be interesting to see what course of action the team owners, including Denny Hamlin, as well as NASCAR take to resolve the situation.