The entry of NY Racing for this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 has stirred talk about the value of smaller teams unable to compete a full season in Cup after a comment from the chairman of the Race Team Alliance.
NY Racing is entered in its first Cup race of the year. JJ Yeley is the driver. The team announced Tuesday a multi-year deal with Steakhouse Elite as sponsor. The team is owned by John Cohen, whose previous Cup teams ran 16 races between 2012-15. His team’s best finish was 32nd in the 2015 Daytona 500 with Reed Sorenson. His teams also failed to qualify for seven races and withdrew five times.
The entry of NY Racing means one car will fail to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600. The five teams going for the four spots available for non-charter teams are those of BJ McLeod (No. 52, Rick Ware Racing), Jeffrey Earnhardt (No. 55 Premium Motorsports), Timmy Hill (No. 66, Motorsports Business Management), Parker Kligerman (No. 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing) and Yeley.
NY Racing’s entry drew the ire of Rob Kauffman, co-owner of Chip Ganassi Racing and chairman of the Race Team Alliance. Kauffman tweeted about NY Racing’s entry and then responded to a few who questioned him.
Ridiculous. Devalues the sport -why give away $ to noncompetitive part time cars. Give to charity or create Driver retirement/disability fund @NASCAR https://t.co/026NYV3Hxx
— rob kauffman (@kauffmanrob) May 22, 2018
Buy at Charter (Franchise) and come on in and race every weekend. Would love to have you!
— rob kauffman (@kauffmanrob) May 22, 2018
Yes, thats what grassroots racing is about try @ARCA_Racing @NASCAR_Xfinity or many other options. Cant just show up and play @Yankees or @dallascowboys
— rob kauffman (@kauffmanrob) May 22, 2018
Dustin, to be clear, ANY size team is welcome by me. I just feel at the Premier Level of @Nascar someone should have the resources to commit to the full season and help put on a great show all year. Nothing against small teams!
— rob kauffman (@kauffmanrob) May 22, 2018
Kauffman’s tweet drew a response from Xfinity driver Tommy Joe Martins, who has been vocal about the importance of smaller teams in NASCAR’s national series and the need to raise the profiles of such teams. Martins responded to Kauffman’s comments with a series of tweets.
Hot take: charters are fine. Gives value to owners & guaranteed starting spots for fans watching their drivers.
— Tommy Joe Martins (@TommyJoeMartins) May 22, 2018
Disappointing to hear an OWNER say small teams devalue NASCAR. We can’t afford new tires! Of course we aren’t competitive w/Cup teams! Money to charity? Give it to us! https://t.co/kLARhZBqME
Don’t make @kauffmanrob into the bad guy over MWR & the charter idea. That’s dumb. He invested millions of dollars into a NASCAR team, & as soon as the sponsors pulled out what did he have left? Parts to be sold for pennies on the dollar. Charters give SOME safety net.Not all bad
— Tommy Joe Martins (@TommyJoeMartins) May 22, 2018
Only issue: it costs so much to field a NASCAR team that several charters are on “uncompetitive” teams. There aren’t 36 “big” teams in the Cup garage.
— Tommy Joe Martins (@TommyJoeMartins) May 22, 2018
So you buy a charter to then lose more money fielding the car? Or you sell your charter...to who? No demand = no value. Not good
My feelings are hurt the most over Rob’s comment (who cares but still). I know I’m not the only one to have my family invest tons of money into this sport chasing my dream - & the best we’ve ever been able to afford is mid-pack. We devalue the sport? What an ignorant statement.
— Tommy Joe Martins (@TommyJoeMartins) May 22, 2018
As much as I’d like it to be, @XfinityRacing is NOT grass roots. I wish we raced other AA teams. Unfortunately we race @CGRnascar, @RCRracing, @roushfenway, @StewartHaasRcng, @JoeGibbsRacing, & @JRMotorsports (aka @TeamHendrick) EVERY WEEK.
— Tommy Joe Martins (@TommyJoeMartins) May 22, 2018
Wish the Yanks would stay in the bigs. https://t.co/szwFPnEXSp
And at the same time, is he right? When we rarely if ever get on tv, can’t run up front, & are treated like a nuisance - what’s the good in it? I’d argue that if we were given more opportunities to build value in our brands (media ops, etc) maybe we could improve our chances.
— Tommy Joe Martins (@TommyJoeMartins) May 22, 2018
The whole thing is just depressing 😞
— Tommy Joe Martins (@TommyJoeMartins) May 22, 2018
We will be racing against 20 cup affiliated teams this weekend at Charlotte including plenty of cup drivers. Most of the teams have more employees in their gift shop than the we do on our entire team. Not complaining one bit but let’s not pretend XFINITY is “grass roots”. https://t.co/YwOOfLFIyv
— Ryan Sieg Racing (@RyanSiegRacing) May 22, 2018
So apparently I devalued the sport by building my own car, paying the entry fee, making it thru tech (in the first try) and racing the best of the sport and into the Daytona 500. Jesus no wonder fans are leaving so fast with assholes like that running the RTA
— Brian Keselowski (@KeselowskiBrian) May 22, 2018
Look at me devaluing the sport. Such a shame pic.twitter.com/WyJa61C8cH
— Brian Keselowski (@KeselowskiBrian) May 22, 2018
JJ Yeley is a wheelman and if a team wants to compete they have every right to try to make the race, if they arent fast enough they go home that simple https://t.co/lADA0nFByc
— Cody Ware (@CodyShaneWare) May 22, 2018
