NASCAR may require look at team tax records

NASCAR is “trying to limit car owners to four teams by precisely pinning down business relationships between various stock-car teams," according to Mike Mulhern of the WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL. NASCAR may “want to demand access to tax records to pin down just who owns what and who pays whom how much." The new rules state the determination of team ownership “will be made solely by NASCAR and shall be final, non-appealable and non-litigable." But a “number of key figures expressed astonishment" when asked about the rules. One team owner said that “not much had been made of the new rules … ‘because we don’t think they’re legally enforceable.’" Roush Racing President Geoff Smith, whose company operates five full-time Nextel Cup teams, said that the “rules are so broad ‘that it’s really difficult to know just where you might stand’ with NASCAR on any particular issue." Smith: “According to these rules, Jack Roush might have 43 teams." Team owner and driver Kyle Petty said he believes NASCAR execs “figure if they can limit the big owners to four teams, then if a fifth big-dollar sponsor comes along, then the new sponsor would have to go with one of the smaller teams. But that’s not the reality of it -– if you’re a company with your heart set on Dale Earnhardt Jr. and can’t get Junior, well, you’re not going to go with another team, you’ll just stay home." Mulhern reported, despite the rules, Hendrick Motorsports Owner Rick Hendrick and Evernham Motorsports President & CEO Ray Evernham plan to keep their current contracts to provide engines to a number of teams next season. WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL