Neighborhood in Shock as NASCAR Crew Proprietor Reveals The Heavy Price 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, prime organizations like Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing raked in anyplace 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 to be they’re racing below the identical guidelines, they’re taking part in a completely completely different sport—a brutal actuality that one group proprietor just lately gave a uncommon, uncooked glimpse of (one overpriced half at a time!).

In a sport dominated by powerhouse operations with deep pockets and sponsorship battle chests, small NASCAR groups usually 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 element, and chase marginal positive aspects, smaller outfits combat to area a full automotive. Their haulers are older, their components 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 largely within the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Collection and sometimes ventures into Xfinity, with proprietor Josh Reaume even doubling down as a racecar driver. With restricted assets and a repute for arduous work and hustle, RBR survives in a world that’s troublesome 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 group shocked. “Costs for components 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, nevertheless it spoke volumes. At a time when even mid-tier groups are tightening belts, smaller squads are choking below the strain of fundamental bills.

Followers pontificate as prices gas NASCAR’s rising divide

The second Josh Reaume hit ‘submit’ on that tweet about $800 gas hoses, NASCAR’s on-line group 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 surprise 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 in recent times, revealing that the ballooning prices, together with these for charters, had been one purpose he never expanded JR Motorsports into a full-time Cup effort.

One other fan chimed in with shock over the value soar, 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 fallacious. Within the Gen-7 period, NASCAR moved to a single-source components system. All the things 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 purchasing round. No reductions. Simply NASCAR costs.

This mannequin may be fairer on paper, nevertheless it’s killing flexibility for groups making an attempt to get by. As one consumer put it. “NASCAR makes it so arduous 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 combat 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 along with his personal satirical take. “Tape – $2. Tape for filmmaking – $10. That very same tape for filmmaking however offered for racing – $20.” It’s a joke, positive. But additionally… not likely. If NASCAR doesn’t handle these value obstacles quickly, who precisely will likely be left to race?