"It sounds unfair to me": Influencer reacts to NASCAR's alleged bias toward Joe Gibbs and Rick Hendrick

NASCAR announced new charter rules for the 2025 season. These rules limit most teams to three chartered entries, but exceptions have been granted to Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and Hendrick Motorsports, and they will be able to field a fourth car.

Eric Estepp, a NASCAR influencer recently took to his YouTube show ‘Out of the Groove’ and called the move unfair. He stated how having a fourth car on the grid will give these teams an unfair advantage while the other competing teams have to work with three.

He said:

“I don't know, sounds kind of unfair to me. Is it crazy to suggest that having a fourth full-time car on track might give those teams a slight competitive advantage? I don’t think so. It is worth noting that most other Cup Series teams seem to believe that three is the magic number.”

The rule comes at a time when most teams, including Trackhouse Racing and RFK Racing, have changed to three-car operations. According to Estepp, the addition of a fourth car can give critical advantages, which include access to more data and resources during races.

NASCAR has not yet clarified if the exceptions will phase out, which Estepp referred to in his video as not wanting to create too much hype around the issue since there is no confirmation yet. He did talk about how the lack of long-term planning here was a big issue.

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What are NASCAR's new charter rules for 2025? As explained by Bob Pockrass

The announcement about JGR and HMS being allowed to race with four cars was shared by NASCAR journalist Bob Pockrass on social media and has since got mixed reactions from fans.

Pockrass explained the situation in response to a fan query, saying:

“Yes, teams that weren’t four-chartered previously are limited to three charters under the new agreement. They can run a fourth car as an open.”

Following this, fans had some other questions. One fan asked Pockrass if this charter facilitated the team to buy a fourth car, followed by another about how this move could play out legally.

To these, Pockrass answered in his tweets:

“You don't buy an open car (beyond paying entry fees and licenses for team members/car number) -- you just field it. So far, NASCAR limiting team owners a certain number of charters has not been an issue in the litigation.”

Based on this, it means while HMS and JGR will continue to field four cars with full charter benefits, teams like Trackhouse Racing and 23XI Racing, can only run a fourth car without guaranteed financial backing.