After Tyler Reddick fought through a stomach virus during the Southern 500 to win the NASCAR regular-season championship by just 1 point over Kyle Larson, he and the 23XI Racing ownership group went to collect the trophy.
Reddick stood by the trophy, with team co-owner Michael Jordan next to him. Co-owners Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk were on the other side. There was no NASCAR executive to present the trophy.
Hamlin mentioned that he was quite disappointed that no NASCAR official was there to hand over the trophy to Tyler.
Hamlin wasn’t sure if it was intentional, but he couldn’t remember a time when a NASCAR official wasn’t present to give out the awards.
As the 10-race playoffs began on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR and its teams are still locked in a long-running dispute about the franchise system at the core of the business.
The teams want a larger share of the revenue, a role in the negotiations, and for charters — which guarantee a spot in any Cup Series race and a share of the prize money — to be made permanent.
All the proposals given to the teams have been rejected. Polk, who played a big role in making Jordan a famous celebrity, is now leading the team’s resistance with the charters set to expire at the end of the year.
NASCAR has given the teams a new proposal, but Polk showed he wasn’t impressed by pinning a note to his shirt that said: “Please don’t ask me about my Charter. I don’t want to disparage NASCAR and lose it.”
Hamlin said Polk wore the note out of “frustration” and suggested that major changes are needed for the teams and NASCAR to reach an agreement.
“One side will have to wake up and be reasonable. That’s all,” Hamlin said. When asked which side should make concessions, Hamlin was clear: “Not ours.”
