NASCAR Chairman Brian France: Race Team Alliance "not necessary"

   NASCAR Chairman Brian France was a guest Monday afternoon on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio with  hosts Dave Moody and Angie Skinner. Among the topics was France's take on the newly formed Race Team Alliance.

   Here is what he said:

   

    France: We didn't think it was necessary and we thought the benefits they would arrive at with this association would be much smaller than they do. They're smart guys and they may figure out some things that we're not aware of. But on balance I would say two things - one, the idea that they don't know how many employees they have or what their costs are and this is a way to tackle that, that's terrific. We certainly want them to get those kinds of answers for sure. The one thing that is central to NASCAR though, is when you deal with one voice, that would probably be the worst thing we could ever do - and that's to listen to one voice, even it was a consensus voice. Every decision that we've ever made that was important, the more input, the more people we heard from, the better the result. So, that will never change in the business model of NASCAR. Good ideas come from all over the place and that's the strength that we have. Our communication has never been better. We just have to keep building on that.

   Q: There's a lot of speculation about the RTA's goals. Do you have any insight?
   France: They're smart guys. They are entitled to approach the business in certain ways. We're going to respect that but, you know, we're going to go down the road dealing with all of the team owners - not most of them, not the big ones, but all of them. That's the best outcome we can get. Whenever we do something and we're working on all kinds of things now, these are never simple things. Drivers, crew chiefs, engineers - we always pick their brains on things because it's not always black or white if we go one way or that way on whether it actually lowers costs or it actually improves racing. The last thing we would want to do is not talk to everybody so where we can find where the truth lies.

   Q: With attorneys now involved, do you still fill comfortable talking to owners who are part of the RTA?
   France: Sure, it's business as usual. We're embarking on some big things.    

   Q: It's clear you are making distinction from individual car owners and the RTA. What is the point of communicating with the RTA via attorneys and vice versa?
   France: I don't want to get too technical with legal mumbo jumbo. That doesn't serve anybody. The reality is we need to deal with the owners directly; that's how we've historically done it. If they think there are some benefits, we may not agree, but we'll certainly respect it.

   Q: Is ultimately the goal of the RTA to negotiate new percentages of the TV deal? Are those percentages set?
   France: They're set. It's the right allocation. Everyone would like to have more - that's natural. We're business as usual. The tracks continue to make big investments in their facilities and they need to rely on the fact it's business as usual in NASCAR. We're focused on building better relationships with team owners all the time.