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, high 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 underneath the identical guidelines, they’re enjoying a wholly totally different recreation—a brutal actuality that one staff 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 struggle chests, small NASCAR groups usually discover themselves enjoying 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 part, and chase marginal good points, smaller outfits combat to area 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 staff.

Owned by journeyman driver Josh Reaume, the staff 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 sources and a fame for laborious 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 neighborhood shocked. “Costs for elements are outta management. These gas overflow hoses have been $800 for the pair. 🤮” Reaume wrote, including, “A minimum of they’re ribbed. 🤷‍♂️” The tweet was laced with sarcasm, but it surely spoke volumes. At a time when even mid-tier groups are tightening belts, smaller squads are choking underneath the stress of fundamental bills.

Followers hold forth as prices gas NASCAR’s rising divide

The second Josh Reaume hit ‘publish’ 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 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 motive he never expanded JR Motorsports into a full-time Cup effort.

One other fan chimed in with shock over the value bounce, 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, after all, being NASCAR.” And so they’re not improper. 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 purpose was parity and security, it has created what many name a monopoly. No buying round. No reductions. Simply NASCAR costs.

This mannequin may be fairer on paper, but it surely’s killing flexibility for groups attempting to get by. As one consumer put it. “NASCAR makes it so laborious 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 combat 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 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, positive. But additionally… not likely. If NASCAR doesn’t handle these value limitations quickly, who precisely shall be left to race?