NASCAR talking with owners about long-term equity in sport

NASCAR and team owners have had discussions on ways that teams can have more long-term value. Whether that is through franchising or NASCAR offering a select number of licenses that guarantee starting spots remains to be determined. Michael Waltrip Racing co-owner Rob Kauffman, who heads the Race Team Alliance business coalition of team owners, wouldn't go into details of the discussions the owners have had with NASCAR.

Asked Sunday about possible 2016 franchise or license models, Kauffman said, "What I can say is both NASCAR and the teams recognize that the teams building up some kind of long-term equity for participating in the sport, year in and year out and putting on the show, is a good thing. You look at a lot of other sports around the world, and that's how they work. "So the question is can you come up with some model within the framework of NASCAR that makes sense for everybody. It's a very sensible concept. The hard part is the details. So we're having productive discussions to see if we can figure out how to do it. It's an ongoing project." More at ESPN.com