Neighborhood in Shock as NASCAR Workforce 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 anyplace from $70 million to $141 million simply from sponsorship revenues. However what in regards to the smaller groups? Those with out billion-dollar backers or full-season sponsors? In easy phrases: Each bill hurts. Whereas it could seem like they’re racing beneath the identical guidelines, they’re taking part in a wholly completely different sport—a brutal actuality that one staff proprietor 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 preserve the lights on. Whereas the highest Cup groups can afford to constitution flights, improve each element, and chase marginal good points, smaller outfits battle to subject a full automobile. Their haulers are older, their components scarcer, and their crews? Typically pulling double obligation between wrenching and logistics. Reaume Brothers Racing is one such staff.

Owned by journeyman driver Josh Reaume, the staff operates largely within the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence and infrequently ventures into Xfinity, with proprietor Josh Reaume even doubling down as a racecar driver. With restricted assets and a status for exhausting 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 preserve 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 have 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 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 folks 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, have been one cause he never expanded JR Motorsports into a full-time Cup effort.

One other fan chimed in with shock over the worth leap, asking, “Wasn’t that like a $45 half a couple of years in the past?!?!?!” The reply got here fast. “Single supply provider, child! That provider, after all, being NASCAR.” And so they’re not incorrect. Within the Gen-7 period, NASCAR moved to a single-source components system. Every part 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 is likely to be fairer on paper, however it’s killing flexibility for groups attempting to get by. As one consumer put it. “NASCAR makes it so exhausting to develop the game.” The frustration isn’t simply with half costs. There’s rising pressure across the sport’s construction, particularly as groups like 23XI Racing proceed to battle NASCAR in courtroom 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, certain. But additionally… not likely. If NASCAR doesn’t handle these value limitations quickly, who precisely can be left to race?