Over the Daytona 500 weekend, things escalated a bit in regards to the NASCAR Cup Series charter negotiations, and Denny Hamlin was left disappointed. Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing and driver for Joe Gibbs Racing has a vested interest in the negotiations.
While Hamlin is an owner, he is not part of the negotiating committee. 23XI Racing does have a representative on the five-member committee in Curtis Polk. Over the weekend, the teams wanted to meet with Jim France in Daytona, but the invitation was declined.
So, the teams went public and announced the hiring of Jeffrey Kessler. The attorney is well known for his sports litigation, most recently over NCAA NIL cases, as well as working on equal pay for the USWNT.
Denny Hamlin was disappointed in the response, or lack thereof, from NASCAR.
“I do know that the team owners met on Saturday, I was there,” Hamlin said on the latest episode of Actions Detrimental. “The invitation was extended to Jim France, [who] was in town, but he declined that invitation. So, I think it’s disappointing, certainly, I can’t think of a league, or an owner of a league or a commissioner, that would decline meeting with his team owners, that’s very disappointing.
“In all, I think the teams are wondering, ‘You said no, over and over and over to us, we’re just looking for an explanation of ‘Why?’ and we haven’t got that why yet.’ Other than, ‘It just is.'”
Denny Hamlin does believe the hiring of Kessler is a big deal.
Denny Hamlin calls hiring of Kessler ‘big step’
For the owners to not only hire an attorney but one such as Jeffrey Kessler is an escalation of things. They are letting NASCAR know that they are willing to take them on to get what they believe they deserve.
NASCAR, owned privately by the France family, does not operate the same as other professional sports leagues. There is not nearly as much stability within the sport. Until the charters were instituted, stability didn’t exist in stock car racing.
Denny Hamlin says teams are just protecting themselves. He also believes it is a big move for them to make.
“I don’t have anything else to say about it than you know, there’s a story to be told on the owners’ parts, and obviously hiring Jeffrey is a big step for the owners, but I think a lot of it is protection for the team owners,” Hamlin continued. “Obviously, there’s a lot of language and so much red tape when it comes to charter agreements and whatnot. You just gotta make sure that you’ve got all the protection that you need. Because this is a big deal, charter agreements a big deal to us.”
President of NASCAR Steve Phelps recently said there would be a fair deal. He also said it would be done soon. Denny Hamlin says, not so fast.
“I appreciate his optimism, I’m not as optimistic as probably Steve is,” the driver said. “But I don’t know how much of that is what he believes is truth and how much of it is uh… What he believes versus what kind of a narrative that’s being put out there. Awfully disappointing that we just can’t get our feet out of the mud on this thing, but hopefully, we get some traction soon.”
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