Rick Hendrick on signing NASCAR's new charter agreement: 'I was just tired'

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Rick Hendrick, the winningest owner in NASCAR history, said Tuesday “I was just tired” of the lengthy negotiations over a new charter agreement and that played into his decision to sign NASCAR's final offer.

NASCAR gave teams a deadline of last Friday night to sign and 13 teams — all but two — agreed to the deal that now runs through 2031. The two holdouts are the Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

Hendrick, at a news conference to announce Kyle Larson will run the Indianapolis 500 in 2025, said that more than two years of negotiations with NASCAR over extending team charters had been draining.

“I think we worked really hard for two years and it got down to, you're not going to make everybody happy. And I think it got down to, I was just tired,” Hendrick said. “Not everybody was happy. But in any negotiation, you're not going to get everything you want, and so I felt it was a fair deal and we protected the charters, which was number one, we got the (revenue) increase, I feel a lot of things we didn't like we got taken out, so I'm happy with where we were.”

Charters — 36 are in use now among 15 teams — guarantee access to all lucrative Cup Series races.

The teams had sought four things during negotiations: a larger share of the revenue, a seat at the table for governance issues, a cut on business deals NASCAR does that use team or driver likenesses, and, most importantly, for charters to become permanent, locking in stability.

NASCAR balked at making the charters permanent and last week's final offer did not include it; the new deal also has language that would allow the series-owning France family to hold charters and field their own teams.

23XI Racing, which is owned by Jordan, Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk, led the teams in negotiating for changes. In a surprise, Bob Jenkins of the smaller Front Row Motorsports team joined 23XI in refusing to sign the 105-page document.

Hendrick isn't sure what 23XI and Front Row are hoping to gain by holding out. The charters they hold will theoretically expire and be revoked in December without an agreement with NASCAR.

“I don't have a dog in that,” Hendrick said. "I mean, it's like, we've had so many meetings about this thing. I feel like the majority of teams felt like we got as much as we could and it was time to move on.

“And good luck to them. They feel very strong about their position, where they are, and I don't even know what the reaction from NASCAR even was.”

The series has not commented on the situation in months. Hendrick said if 23XI and Front Row are somehow able to negotiate their individual charter agreements then any concessions they get would need to be offered to the 13 teams that signed last week.

“I think NASCAR, if they change anything for those two teams, that will go across the board,” Hendrick said. “I'm pretty sure that would be the right thing to do because we, the teams that signed at the deadline, and then they make another deal a little bit better somewhere, that would be wrong.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press