Group in Shock as NASCAR Staff Proprietor Reveals The Heavy Value of Racing

For many NASCAR groups, the roar of the engine is powered by one factor: Cash. And never simply prize cash. However, actual, regular funding. In 2023, high organizations like Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing raked in wherever from $70 million to $141 million simply from sponsorship revenues. However what concerning the smaller groups? Those with out billion-dollar backers or full-season sponsors? In easy phrases: Each bill hurts. Whereas it might appear like they’re racing beneath the identical guidelines, they’re taking part in a wholly completely different sport—a brutal actuality that one group proprietor not too long ago gave a uncommon, uncooked glimpse of (one overpriced half at a time!).

In a sport dominated by powerhouse operations with deep pockets and sponsorship struggle chests, small NASCAR groups typically discover themselves taking part in protection each week. The unhappy actuality is that they’re not simply racing for wins, however to actually hold the lights on. Whereas the highest Cup groups can afford to constitution flights, improve each part, and chase marginal features, smaller outfits battle to subject a full automotive. Their haulers are older, their elements scarcer, and their crews? Usually pulling double responsibility between wrenching and logistics. Reaume Brothers Racing is one such group.

Owned by journeyman driver Josh Reaume, the group operates principally within the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence and sometimes ventures into Xfinity, with proprietor Josh Reaume even doubling down as a racecar driver. With restricted assets and a popularity for onerous work and hustle, RBR survives in a world that’s tough for the underdog. However even their resilience has a breaking level, particularly when prices hold hovering.

That frustration hit a boiling level on June 12 when Reaume posted on X about a purchase order that left the neighborhood surprised. “Costs for elements are outta management. These gas overflow hoses had been $800 for the pair. 🤮” Reaume wrote, including, “At the least they’re ribbed. 🤷‍♂️” The tweet was laced with sarcasm, however it spoke volumes. At a time when even mid-tier groups are tightening belts, smaller squads are choking beneath the strain of fundamental bills.

And Reaume’s not alone on this. Throughout the NASCAR storage, groups are feeling the squeeze. However it’s posts like these that peel again the curtain and remind followers what racing actually prices whenever you’re not backed by a billion-dollar model. And the followers? Even they’d a phrase or two to say about rising prices choking the game’s grassroots spirit.

Followers hold forth as prices gas NASCAR’s rising divide

The second Josh Reaume hit ‘submit’ on that tweet about $800 gas hoses, NASCAR’s on-line neighborhood didn’t simply shrug. It sparked a storm. For a lot of, it felt like one other brick within the wall separating the game’s wealthy and resourceful from these barely making it to the observe. One fan put it plainly: “No marvel it’s unsustainable for individuals with no or much less monetary backing and why the wealthy are slowly taking up.” Even Dale Earnhardt Jr. has echoed that sentiment lately, revealing that the ballooning prices, together with these for charters, had been one motive he never expanded JR Motorsports into a full-time Cup effort.

One other fan chimed in with shock over the value leap, asking, “Wasn’t that like a $45 half a number of years in the past?!?!?!” The reply got here fast. “Single supply provider, child! That provider, in fact, being NASCAR.” They usually’re not mistaken. Within the Gen-7 period, NASCAR moved to a single-source elements system. All the pieces from chassis to wheels comes from NASCAR-approved distributors. Whereas the aim was parity and security, it has created what many name a monopoly. No procuring round. No reductions. Simply NASCAR costs.

This mannequin could be fairer on paper, however it’s killing flexibility for groups attempting to get by. As one consumer put it. “NASCAR makes it so onerous to develop the game.” The frustration isn’t simply with half costs. There’s rising rigidity across the sport’s construction, particularly as groups like 23XI Racing proceed to battle NASCAR in court docket over monopoly points and its lack of long-term worth.

One fan commented, “Please inform me that is satire.” Whereas Reaume didn’t reply, one other fan did together with his personal satirical take. “Tape – $2. Tape for filmmaking – $10. That very same tape for filmmaking however bought for racing – $20.” It’s a joke, certain. But additionally… not likely. If NASCAR doesn’t tackle these price obstacles quickly, who precisely can be left to race?