If the RTA doesn't seek confrontation, why does it crave attention?

The nine founding team members of the Race Team Alliance announced the formation of their business alliance last Monday through a mass email distribution through the media. In the days since, the RTA's spokesman, Michael Waltrip Racing team co-owner Rob Kauffman, has conducted more than a dozen interviews with various media outlets to talk about an organization which has yet - at least officially - to conduct any business.

Kauffman insists a large part of the reason for the organization’s creation is to help reduce team costs through work on such issues as workman’s compensation and hotel room costs. Assuming that’s true, teams could have done that years ago, and if they did, there would be no reason to announce that effort through a news release, whether successful or not.

The creation of the new organization was announced very publicly and to attract attention. If the goal was simply to accomplish results, that could easily be done behind the scenes. So, whose attention is the RTA attempting to get? Perhaps fans, but whatever cost savings the teams gain do not necessarily transfer to fans. That leaves the media and NASCAR, or more correctly, NASCAR through the filter of the media. Why is that even necessary for a group that claims it does not seek confrontation?