Youth, charters driving NASCAR Silly Season

Jul 27, 2017 - 7:36 PM The expected move of Ryan Blaney to a third car at Roger Penske's team has clarified the Silly Season at the top of the NASCAR heap.

With sponsorship pending, all Penske needs is a team willing to sell him a charter to make his three-car deal complete.

Blaney is the second of three drivers aged 25 or under to have his future confirmed during this year's Silly Season moves.

For 2018, Joe Gibbs Racing called in its contract with Erik Jones -- loaned out for his rookie season at Furniture Row Racing, the affiliated Toyota team.

The next shoe likely to fall will be the move of Ty Dillon back to his home base, literally, at grandfather Richard Childress' team.

There are those who believe Childress might fall back to a two-car team if no sponsorship can be secured to run his grandson in a third entry, and that he will lease his charter to a team looking to benefit from the increase in purses that come with it -- even after a seven-figure leasing fee is considered.

Back in the so-called good ol' days -- the 1970s -- Silly Season was more about drivers and handshake deals that could evaporate in a heartbeat.

The current charter system is the opposite end of the spectrum. Teams need drivers who can sustain their charters as well as help bring in sponsorship dollars.

NASCAR has the right to revoke charters every three years from non-performing teams. Long term contracts are the norm and any driver capable of winning races who has sponsor appeal is usually locked up.

The year's biggest contract dilemma may have ended last week when Kasey Kahne won the Brickyard 400 in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevy. Team owner Rick Hendrick has been not confirmed what would be done with his fourth entry, where Kahne was on a three-year losing streak until last Sunday.

The problem for Hendrick has been bringing in sponsor money to sustain Kahne for the final year of his contract. But a trip to the playoffs after a major win could well be enough for the ever-persuasive car dealer to land enough cash from sponsors to keep Kahne going.

If Kahne stays at Hendrick, next year will be about whether Kahne or Alex Bowman, the replacement for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has a one-year deal, continue with Hendrick for 2019.

Somebody will have to go to make room for William Byron, yet another development driver under a long-term contract. Like Blaney, Jones and Chase Elliott, his future teammate at Hendrick, Bryon is one of those youngsters with enough talent to be locked up way early.

The easy math is for 45-year-old Matt Kenseth -- displaced by Jones at Joe Gibbs Racing after his contract expired -- to simply trade places. Furniture Row team owner Barney Visser has two charters, is committed to a two-car team and could do worse than hiring a former Cup champion.

Whether that would be a good fit for the 5-Hour Energy sponsorship currently riding with Jones remains to be seen. In any event, Visser can afford to run with sponsorship from his own companies and could opt to travel the same road as his fellow team owners by looking to promote a young driver from the feeder series.

Stewart-Haas Racing has had its problems with the sponsorship of Danica Patrick this year. Assuming Patrick rides out the option year of her contract next season with Stewart-Haas Racing, which could do worse than Patrick when it comes to the charter standings for the No. 10 entry, the next most intriguing possibility concerns Darrell Wallace.

It would be a major surprise if Wallace doesn't get a ride in a second entry at Richard Petty Motosports. The RPM team is out of options after leasing the charter for its second car this season and must use it in 2018 or sell it.

Given that "King" Richard has always been a favorite son of the NASCAR ownership and that NASCAR is keen on having an African-American driver competing in the Cup, it's likely some sponsorship will arrive. Historically, NASCAR has had more than a few companies follow the sanctioning body's advice on where to put their dollars.

The Wood Brothers, who have brought on Paul Menard and the sponsorship dollars from his family business to replace Blaney, need to find a charter for purchase or lease. There should be no shortage of those in the lower ranks. But given the usual lack of a full 40-car field under the charter system, the price has to be right to justify the 10 percent annual boost in revenue and a guaranteed starting position. This legacy team survived the first year of the charter system without one before getting a lease for 2017.

Menard moved over from the Childress team in a deal that has been in the making for upwards of a year. This underscores that Menard was not content to wait and see if he would be replaced by Dillon should the needed sponsorship dollars come along for Childress.

Who will come out ahead as a result of the new pairings in 2018? That answer will not arrive until sponsorships are announced and in place. Penske, Hendrick, Stewart-Haas, RPM and Childress -- each an excellent team with a long history of winning -- are the major teams in the hunt. Is the economy strong enough to bring in the necessary dollars for all of them? Will NASCAR's troublesome TV numbers make it a tough sell for even these teams?

On the track, it will be the usual story. The more dominant teams usually have the best options for securing the right deal at the right time. Given their experience, Blaney and Jones will very likely thrive in their new permanent homes with Penske and Gibbs.