The NASCAR Team Charter Agreement has dominated the headlines over the past week after 13 of the 15 organizations that comprise the current NASCAR Cup Series full-time teams signed the new proposed agreement, which is set to be enacted once the current agreement expires at the conclusion of the 2024 season, ahead of last weekend’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
There are two teams that have remained holdouts on signing the deal — 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports. While 23XI Racing was not a surprise, as that organization has been very publicly vocal on its stance throughout the negotiation process, many were surprised that Front Row — a team that will expand to three Chartered entries in 2025 — was the other organization.
I think many would have expected the additional holdout to be a team like Trackhouse Racing, which led by team owner Justin Marks has made its name by challenging the status quo within the world of NASCAR since joining the NASCAR Cup Series full-time in 2021.
Marks made himself available to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody on Monday afternoon, where he spoke at length about the Charter Agreement, and why he signed on the dotted line.
The team owner called the agreement, which is reportedly over 100 pages in length, very detailed and complex.
“This is something we’ve been working on for two-plus years and in the course of that time — it’s a very, very detailed complex agreement,” Marks said. “It’s not just about money, it’s not just about terms, there’s a lot of things in there, it basically spells out the entire operating relationship, in all facets, between the teams and NASCAR.”
Marks says that while he and the other team owners within the sport fought long and hard with NASCAR in the negotiations process over the last couple of years, he said his decision to finally sign on the dotted line was simply because he felt the teams had bent NASCAR as far as the sanctioning body would be willing to bend on this particular seven-year Charter Agreement, and if the teams didn’t sign now, there was a chance the negotiation would continue in perpetuity.
“If the day doesn’t come when finally somebody goes, ‘We’re done here, we’ve taken as long as we need’, then it’ll never come. The negotiation will never end,” Marks explained. “So, me personally, as we continued to have the conversations, I was ready and anticipating the day that it came where NASCAR said ‘This is it, we’re done. We’ve addressed all these issues, you know where we won’t move, we’ve moved on the things that you want us to. We’ve agreed on ninety percent of it or seventy-five percent of it. It’s time to get this thing done, and that day came last week.”
While the teams didn’t get every one of their demands met in the new Charter Agreement, which any good negotiation leaves both sides wanting more typically, he feels there are a lot of really good terms that were laid out in the new Charter Agreement.
“There are things in the agreement that I really like, that are going to be very, very helpful to us. There are things in the agreement that are different from the way that I would have wanted them to end up, there are going to be some challenges,” Marks conceded. “I think it’s just both sides trying to get the best deal for them as possible, obviously, and there’s a lot of consensus in the group that this is probably where we’re going to end up and where we’re going to net out.”
Teams came into the negotiation process wanting to be able to create a business model around their teams that made financial sense, Marks believes they have that now.
“At the end of the day, the agreement is one that I can build a business around and that we can embark on the future, embrace what it is and everything in it, and go ahead,” Marks stated.
While some anonymous sources within the teams have explained that the majority of the teams only signed the Charter Agreement on Friday night because NASCAR issued a threat of revocation of Charters if teams didn’t sign by the end of the night on Friday.
Marks says he didn’t feel threatened, personally, to sign the deal.
“The philosophy of mine has always been coming from a place of partnership and collaboration and so I don’t necessarily feel like it was that way,” Marks added, “I do understand why some would feel that way, but none of the narrative around my relationship with NASCAR would lead me to a place where there was ever a gun to my head.”
While it seems, for now, that the 13 teams who have signed the agreement have put the issue to bed for themselves, Marks admits he isn’t sure about the next shoe to drop with two organizations withholding from signing the deal.
“What happens from here on out, I couldn’t guess, I don’t know, this is unprecedented territory,” Marks stated. “I really admire 23XI’s conviction and commitment, and how hard they’re fighting for themselves and the teams in the sport, but I just don’t know what happens from here on out.”
While 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports continue to fight the fight, Marks says he and his race team are ready to focus their efforts on winning this weekend’s Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International, and further than that securing the organization’s first NASCAR Cup Series championship with Daniel Suarez, who currently sits ninth on the Playoff Grid, 22 points above the cutline after finishing second in Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the opening race of the Round of 16.
