Former NASCAR driver gives blunt response to Denny Hamlin demanding $18M for Cup Series teams

Denny Hamlin's demand of $18 million a year to field Cup Series cars on the track has attracted scrutiny from former NASCAR driver Landon Cassill. This comes after the Joe Gibbs Racing driver outlined NASCAR's reluctance to increase the USD purse for the teams to which Cassill replied with a brutal jibe.

To put a high-octane racecar on the asphalt, a plethora of aspects are taken into account. These include salaries of the personnel, extensive capital expenditures including the acquisition of a stock car, keeping the ride in a facility, working on the Research & Development and installation of new parts if the vehicle succumbs to a crash during the race, to name a few.

Although NASCAR teams have financiers and a chunk of the weekly charter money backing their pursuit, the funds required to run a Cup team aren't completely provided for. Thus, during a talk with Kenny Wallace, Denny Hamlin outlined the need for $18 million to run a team.

"It costs us $18 million a year to put a car on the racetrack. We’ve asked NASCAR to just cover our cost, nothing more. Just cover our cost to go put on this show for you, and the answer has been repeatedly no," Hamlin said via Kenny Wallace on YouTube (1:12.08).

Being a driver for JGR and the co-owner of 23XI Racing, Denny Hamlin is well-versed in the intricacies of the financials of running a Cup Series team. However, his ask was called out by Landon Cassill as he laid bare some aspects that NASCAR will most likely not fund.

"NASCAR is not making you hire 100 engineers, rent private jets, and spend $250,000 on a pit box. This is a competitive business, it's a competitive sport, it's a professional sport. We spend those things because it gets us a competitive edge. Because it gets us faster racecars and faster racecars get us in the victory lane," Cassill said via The Money Lap on X (0.30).

"But NASCAR's position in hearing these team owners sort of complain about how much it costs, NASCAR can very easily take this position that, 'We're not making you spend $18 million,'" he added (1.14).

Denny Hamlin highlights why NASCAR should be cautious while drafting the deals under the new charter system

When the charter system was introduced in 2016, it guaranteed an automatic entry into every points-paying Cup Series race, followed by a piece from the weekly prize purse depending on the charter-holding car's performance. While the system was lucrative when birthed, flaws emerged with time, and even the teams that dominate the charts suffer financially.

Moreover, with the skyrocketing costs, the sponsors' interest began drifting away from Cup teams, which affected their day-to-day operations. Denny Hamlin revealed that despite NASCAR locking a historic $7.7 billion media rights deal and soaring record revenues, the sport is cutting its expenses rather than providing them to the teams struggling to field their cars.

The JGR driver also unveiled the CEO of NASCAR, Jim France's repeated denial of the team owners' request to fund their venture. Per France, because the teams cut their deal back in 2016, nothing can be done until the time for amendment arrives, which has come as the new charter deals are underway.

With that, Denny Hamlin weighed in on the need to be careful this time while drafting the charter to avoid regretting it later.

"They [team owners] went to Jim asking for help and received quite simply sorry you cut your deal back in 2016 and you're gonna live by what that deal is. This was five or six years ago, they came to Jim saying, 'At least give us a break on our hard cards.' Nope, ain't going to do nothing for you. Live by the deal that you cut," Hamlin said (1:10.12).

"That put an emphasis on my mind to us saying, 'We better get this deal right because he ain't gonna come back and retrade this deal four years from now. We better get it right, now,'" the JGR driver added.

A few months are left before the current season wraps up and it will be interesting to see how Denny Hamlin and other team owners will play a part in the new charter system.