Beyond the Flag
Fansided

Opinion: NASCAR’s charter system works

By Darius Goodman

David Ragan, driver of the #38 Speedco Ford, and Michael McDowell, driver of the #34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, race during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 4, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)
David Ragan, driver of the #38 Speedco Ford, and Michael McDowell, driver of the #34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, race during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 4, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

NASCAR has made a number of questionable calls on things that left many fans saying the sport is going downhill, especially the charter system.

Over the past few years, NASCAR has seemingly made a number of questionable calls on things that left many fans often saying that the sport is going downhill. But nothing drew more ire than the charter system.

I, too, was one of those fans that questioned the move, until I finally attended a NASCAR event in 2016 and in each subsequent year witnessed what NASCAR was doing. It was there that I began to understand and ask the right questions to learn more about the system.

When NASCAR introduced the charter system, it was one of the most confusing and hard-to-understand products to see in the sport where I had grown accustomed to teams getting bumped from fields because another driver put together a faster lap, but then, of course, seeing the same drivers line the bottom of the running order or being one of the ill-fated go or go-homers.

The charter system made sure to eliminate that issue in the only way that NASCAR knew how. Shrink the fields, allow just four “non-charter” teams to run in the races and make the field 40 instead of the 43 that I’d known since I started watching the sport.

Who even remembered the teams that ran back there for one to 10 laps anyways? At least now, more teams are able to complete races, even if it’s 10 to 20 laps off the pace of the leader.

More from NASCAR Cup Series

The charters have proverbially saved sponsors and teams from sponsors going home, a move that’s actually paid off. The small teams that we’ve grown to know as fans are moving forward. It’s a slow pace, but you’ve had to notice how much quicker teams like Front Row Motorsports, Leavine Family Racing and the various other small teams that have charters have gotten, especially because they don’t have to worry too much about points, or if they don’t make the show, how many pennies they can shoe-string along to even make it to the next race weekend.

With a charter, teams can guarantee sponsors that hop onboard the smaller teams that they’ll be in the race and that they won’t just be throwing money at the teams that have no hope. With guarantees of sponsors, it’s thrown a number of teams a chance to become competitive, even if they’re mired back in 20th to 40th place every week.

I’ve heard enough of the belly-aching and I’ve seen enough people on Twitter bickering about the charters and how teams are leasing or selling charters to other, smaller teams. The addition of the charter system is bearing fruit. It’s just a little slower than many others would want.

Who knows? Maybe a small team could compete again for another championship and instead of just a Cinderella story at Daytona and Talladega, our next Cinderella could be a small team that captures an unlikely championship.

Next: Top 10 most unbreakable records across Formula One, NASCAR and IndyCar

The charter system is working, and it’s been working. Just give it some more time and soon NASCAR fields will feature plenty more racing across all packs.

Home/NASCAR Cup Series