Roger Penske adds insight to team charter maneuvers

Roger Penske

Roger Penske isn't showing any bitterness publicly over his driver #21-Ryan Blaney not having a guaranteed spot in the Sprint Cup field in 2016. Penske got charters for his two teams [#2, #22] but Blaney and crew chief Jeremy Bullins have been farmed out to the Wood Brothers Racing team, which didn't get a charter.

Rob Kauffman was actively selling his two charters from the now-defunct Michael Waltrip Racing, which he sold to Stewart-Haas Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. The charters come with guaranteed starting spots and revenue streams.

"There really wasn't any opportunity because the two that were available went to other guys that ran the full season last year, which was SHR and Gibbs," Penske said. "So we weren't really in the discussion. That was done between Kauffman and the two [other] teams." Penske says he hopes the charters "are worth a lot of money when I want to sell mine — we've invested a lot."

But Penske also might be looking for a charter to buy when he wants to bring Blaney in-house to Penske Racing. "It's really up to the Wood Brothers long-term what they want to do [as far as getting a charter]," Penske said. "They're very comfortable running as an open [without a charter] car. I think we are supporting them with equipment and technology, and with that they seem to be competitive and Blaney certainly will have a great career. Ultimately we'd like to go to three cars at some point [at Penske], [but] that's certainly in the distant future."

Penske has long-term agreements with Blaney as well as with the Wood Brothers. ESPN.com