Another mid-season driver change shows results still trump paychecks in NASCAR

On the heels of yet another mid-season driver change in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, one has to wonder about the business model in modern-day NASCAR. 

The premier stock-car racing organization in the world has always been commercialized and full of sponsors. Auto racing as a sport is too expensive to exist without the help of dedicated sponsors and partners who are willing to shell out the big bucks. 

It's the sheer quantity of money tied up in today's NASCAR sponsorships that keeps the show running 38 weeks out of the year. 

But the business model of racing — and specifically, NASCAR — is far from perfect. In a sport that is incredibly expensive to get into in the first place, plenty of drivers find their way climbing the ranks thanks to sponsorship rather than merit. 

Every racecar driver in the country can turn a better lap than any average citizen on the street — there's no debating that. Anyone and everyone in any professional racing organization has more driving talent in their pinky finger than the rest of the country combined. But that doesn't mean anyone and everyone in a professional racing organization deserves to be there more than their peers at lower levels.

At a certain point, even when the big, shiny sponsorship checks still clear — and especially when they don't — teams have to make decisions based on merit — aka results. 

Kris Wright, a 31-year-old driver from Wexford, PA., found that out this week when he and NASCAR Xfinity Series team Our Motorsports parted ways. 

Wright, who went through stints in sportscar and open-wheel racing prior to beginning his stock-car career in 2020, brought Our Motorsports — a family-owned team — the most important asset he could provide: sponsorship from FNB Corporation, which has supported Wright throughout his NASCAR career. 

But Wright's 2025 season was an abject disaster, especially compared to Anthony Alfredo's 2024 campaign with the No. 5 team, in which he gathered seven top-10 finishes and finished 15th in the standings. 

Wright, meanwhile, failed to qualify for the July 5 race at the Chicago Street Course and was last in the standings among full-time drivers. Kaz Grala will take over Wright's No. 5 Chevrolet at Dover. 

Wright's situation is similar to that of Hailie Deegan, who signed with AM Racing for the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. After Brett Moffitt delivered nine top-10 finishes and a 15th-place points finish with the team in 2023, hopes were high that Deegan — then coming off three relatively disappointing years in the NASCAR Truck Series — could finally have a breakout season in NASCAR competition. 

Like Wright, Deegan had dedicated sponsors. She also had plenty of hype and social media reach that few Cup Series drivers could boast. 

But like Wright, Deegan was booted from her ride in July. The No. 15 AM Racing Ford was split between several drivers throughout the rest of the season after Deegan scored zero top-10 results and was 27th in points 17 races into the season. Deegan is now a rookie in the Indy NXT Series.

Both Deegan and Wright are very talented race car drivers, but their results paled in comparison to their contemporaries. Both drivers boasted loyal partners with deep pockets, but their lack of results couldn't be overcome by anymore blank checks. 

NASCAR's business model may not be 100% merit-based or what anyone would consider completely "fair," but at the end of the day, results still matter — and they trump any other factor in regard to the employment status of drivers.