- Daytona 500 to now be held as doubleheader with Xfinity Series’ United Rentals 300
- Nascar teams want incremental media revenue increase in new charter
Nascar’s season opening Daytona 500 was postponed to 19th February due to excessive rain at the weekend.
The race was scheduled to take place on 18th February, but heavy rainfall forced the final practice session to be cancelled the day before.
The decision now sets up a rare doubleheader at the Daytona International Speedway, with the Daytona 500 to take place after the Nascar Xfinity Series’ opening United Rentals 300 race on the same day.
In 2012, the Daytona 500 was postponed an entire day. Eight years later, the stock car racing series completed 20 laps before rain forced the race to be stopped and resumed the following day. The 2014 and 2021 editions both saw the race delayed for several hours, which was also as a result of poor weather.
Moving this year’s Daytona 500 back a day may dent TV viewership considerably. The delayed 2021 race averaged 4.83 million viewers and the postponed 2020 edition averaged 7.33 million viewers, which rank as the two lowest viewing figures ever recorded for the event.
- What the data reveals about Nascar’s TV and sponsorship revenue, audience demographics, and social following in 2024
- Nascar teams allow charter negotiation deadline to expire
Meanwhile, Nascar officials reportedly opted to not attend a meeting with teams to discuss charter negotiations during the weekend.
According to Sports Business Journal (SBJ), the series is still preferring to meet with owners individually, rather than hold talks with the Race Team Alliance (RTA), which represents all teams.
All 15 team owners counted within the RTA reportedly met anyway, with some of the opinion that Nascar’s latest revenue-sharing offer is too low, particularly in terms of the total sum of incremental media revenue they will stand to gain.
Teams currently control the charters until the end of 2024, with Nascar able to seize them should they be allowed to expire. Associated Press (AP) reports the teams have hired top antitrust lawyer Jeffrey Kessler to advise them in negotiations, with the deadline for talks already extended.
Curtis Polk, part owner of 23XI Racing and member of the teams’ negotiating committee, told AP that teams want an “incremental revenue” jump to aid their finances. The negotiating committee added that there had been no thoughts about creating a breakaway series not sanctioned by Nascar.
“We want to make a deal, we are just looking for a fair deal,” Polk said. “There is no give and take. We’ve been told ‘This is all there is; there is no flexibility.’ That’s not a negotiation.”
BlackBook Motorsport Forum is back for its 10th anniversary edition. Join us in London this April to navigate the transformation of motorsport and the trends driving the industry forward into the next decade.