NASCAR Team charters currently selling for big money

Charters belonging to smaller NASCAR Cup teams have, on average, been sold or leased for between $2-3 million, according to a report by the Sports Business Journal.

Eight charters were sold or leased during the last offseason. Among them SBJ reports, Tommy Baldwin Racing sold its charter to Leavine Family Racing for $3.5 million. BK Racing also sold one of its charters to Front Row Motorsports for about $2 million.

With three charters, FRM turned around and leased one to TriStar Motorsports for this season. It will revert back to FRM before the 2018 season, allowing it the opportunity to field a third car.

An anonymous NASCAR official told SBJ that the cost of a charter for larger teams could reach as high as $8 million more than what a team like Front Row Motorsports would get for on its charters.

This price increase is based on the historical performance of those more successful teams. The charter transactions this offseason also included larger deals involving equipment or debt assumption according to the report. But charters themselves don't include "hard assets" of "real estate, intellectual property, technology and equipment."

SBJ also reports that Front Row quietly exited the Racing Team Alliance in the off-season and that its place was taken by Leavine Family Racing, which owns the #95 of Michael McDowell. NBC Sports