Silly season to charters: Top NASCAR storylines as season returns from Olympic break

Four weeks remain in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season and things will be busy on the track as far as who will make the playoffs.

Cup drivers will navigate Richmond, Michigan, Daytona and Darlington before the field of 16 playoff drivers is set. Twelve drivers have locked themselves in with at least one victory this year (Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez), with four spots remaining.

Beyond the main point of interest of who makes the playoffs and who doesn’t, here are four major storylines to watch over the next month:

1. Silly season continues

Most teams should be finalizing plans over the next month or so on what their 2025 rosters will look like.

Cup teams that currently have openings include: Spire, Front Row, Kaulig and Rick Ware Racing. And, assuming they each add a third team, Trackhouse and 23XI Racing.

Trackhouse appears to be leaning toward Shane van Gisbergen in its Cup car, while 23XI is the most likely landing spot for Riley Herbst, who brings with him additional Monster Energy money to a program that already has a relationship with the brand.

Justin Haley, who drove for Spire in its first season in 2019 and pulled off the upset at Daytona by staying out when the rains came, could very well return to Spire. He’d replace Corey LaJoie, who would be a candidate to swap spots with him at Rick Ware Racing.

Zane Smith, currently with Trackhouse on loan to Spire, could return to Front Row. The team also has talked with Sam Mayer, who has some funding. 

The Kaulig openings and RWR could be dependent on sponsorship. Whether any of their current Cup drivers return is to be determined. AJ Allmendinger has consistently said he would do what Kaulig wants him to do and has not ruled out a return to Cup. 

2. Charter negotiations

The teams gave NASCAR a counteroffer a few weeks ago and there doesn’t seem like there has been many, if any, conversations between NASCAR and the teams as far as any significant negotiations.

While the hope was that a deal could be done early in the summer, it now looks like the fall is more likely.

Whether the teams can get anything that they are looking for remains to be seen. They want charters to be permanent and want a higher percentage of television and other media rights and ancillary revenues.

The next hurdle for the teams could be this: With the current television package being a seven-year deal (2025-2031), do they sign a deal just for seven years and not hold out for anything long-term? That might be better than trying to negotiate for a deal that goes longer — and teams could hope that NASCAR Chairman Jim France, at age 79, potentially hands over NASCAR to his nephew, Ben Kennedy, before the next deal is negotiated (and Kennedy potentially being more amenable to team owner’s requests).

As first reported by the SportsBusiness Journal, teams potentially could decide not to participate in the next installment of the Netflix series about the sport, hoping to use that as leverage to get some concessions from NASCAR as far as the charter agreement.

3. 2025 schedule announcement

Remember back in May when there were rumblings the schedule could come out sooner rather than later?

Well, it turns out that later was the answer.

It should be this month. Emphasis on should.

Gateway is most likely headed to the playoffs, as is Darlington and possibly also New Hampshire. Atlanta (already announced) is back in the summer, Watkins Glen possibly goes back to the summer and Homestead possibly to the spring.

Mexico City? Depending on the week, it is either nearly a sure thing or questionable. If it does happen, the track likely to lose a date would be Richmond. Emphasis on likely.

Iowa (new in 2024), Chicago street course (with an agreement with the city that can be canceled up until January) and COTA (leased by Speedway Motorsports for NASCAR races) are expected to return to the Cup schedule.

While there has been some buzz about Rockingham, it is not expected to be on the Cup schedule. Possible other national series racing there is more likely.

4. Richmond and tires

NASCAR will allot teams two sets of softer tires for this weekend at Richmond, the same “option” tire at North Wilkesboro that never wore out as quickly as expected. But Richmond is a much harsher surface than the repaved North Wilkesboro.

Teams had nine sets (eight sets of stickers and a set of scuffs from qualifying) of the standard tire in the spring and will only have seven sets (six stickers and one set of scuffs) of the standard tire to go along with the two softer sets for this 400-lap event.

When teams tested with the softer tire at Iowa earlier this year, they barely lasted 15 laps. So teams still aren’t sure how many laps they can get with them before they start to lose significant time (or worse) because of wear.

NASCAR hopes to give teams 45 minutes of practice Saturday at Richmond so they can see how much the softer tire wears (and how faster it will go). That obviously is weather permitting, and tropical storm Debby might not be all that permitting in the area Saturday. 

Whether NASCAR would use the softer tire at any playoff races remains to be seen. Richmond won’t be the only track where teams could be scratching their heads on tires as the series heads to the playoffs. At a Bristol tire test last month, drivers had the same issues of the tires wearing out quicker than expected that occurred in the spring. While it was first thought it was temperature that impacted the tire in the spring, now maybe it is the combination of the Bristol concrete and the resin used that resulted in the unique durability issues.

But if all teams know what they’re facing, they potentially can race with that in mind. Whether NASCAR gives them extra sets than originally planned is still to be determined.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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