[autotag]23XI Racing[/autotag] and Front Row Motorsports are the only two teams in the NASCAR Cup Series garage that haven’t signed the latest charter proposal from the sport. According to several reports, NASCAR threatened to take away charters from the teams that didn’t sign the proposal last Friday night. In response, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports decided against it.
During the race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, 23XI Racing co-owner Curtis Polk spoke to several outlets, such as FOX Sports and The Athletic, about the process involving NASCAR and the charter negotiations.
“NASCAR has consistently refused to deal with [23XI Racing] in these negotiations,” Polk said. “We are David facing Goliath, NASCAR has superior bargaining power and undue influence over the sport and the charter process. They wielded this power continuously over the past few months and consistently rejecting broad team requests on major issues while providing minor changes for pet issues that some teams requested in 1-on-1 meetings.”
https://twitter.com/nascaronnbc/status/1825582529543299271?s=46
“We understand that some teams may have felt pressured and compelled to sign the agreement under significant duress. While other teams may have signed the charter agreement, 23XI Racing faces our own challenges that make these terms particularly harmful to our operations and our ownership groups, interests and intellectual property rights. This isn’t the 1960s and these predatory practices will not withstand scrutiny and be accepted in 2024.”
It is clear that 23XI Racing is not happy with how NASCAR conducted itself during these negotiations, and it would be understandable to feel frustrated if a threat was the only way to get some teams to sign the dotted line. NASCAR and the teams needed to find a way to come to terms on a new charter deal, but 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are now holding out.
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