Spire Motorsports purchased the charter from Live Fast Motorsports, the companies announced Saturday. The deal is worth about $40 million, people briefed on the situation but not authorized to speak publicly told The Athletic.
Spire acquires Live Fasts Charter for the No. 78 team, increasing its count to three cars for the 2024 season. The team currently fields Cup Series teams for Corey LaJoie (No. 7) and Ty Dillon (No. 77), although Dillon is not expected to return to the organization next season.
Defending Truck Series champion Zane Smith will drive the newly acquired Charter in a unique arrangement that sees Smith contracted to fellow Cup team Trackhouse Racing and essentially loaned to Spire for the 2024 season.
The roughly $40 million price tag Live Fast is receiving represents the highest price paid for a charter since NASCAR’s equivalent of a franchise system was introduced ahead of the 2016 season.
It also continues a pattern from Spire that has seen the company stay at the forefront of the charter market and view its purchases as investments. Spire notably made its first significant charter purchase when it purchased Charter #78 from Furniture Row Racing in 2018 for $6 million, which seemed like a big number at the time but would be an incredible bargain today.
The value of charter flights is skyrocketing at a time when teams are expected to receive a larger share of the financial revenue that NASCAR generates.
One of the largest portions of the money teams receive from NASCAR is the Cup Series television contract. NASCAR is working to finalize its next Cup Series TV deal, which is expected to surpass the $8.2 billion the league received the last time its rights hit the open market. NASCAR’s current deal with Fox Sports and NBC Sports expires after the 2024 season.
Once these negotiations are complete, team managers expect the charter value to quickly rise to around $50 million.
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