NASCAR Rumor: Steinbrenners could be part of Andretti entry

The Steinbrenner family that owns the New York Yankees, may be interested in entering the NASCAR Cup Series according to a report in the Sports Business Journal, and since they are already invested in the Andretti IndyCar team with Group 1001, the rumor is that they will jointly enter NASCAR with the Andretti team.

Related Article: NASCAR News: Michael Andretti eyes NASCAR entry

With investment prices rising around traditional stick-and-ball sports like the National Football League, Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association, NASCAR is viewed by the outside sports business world an affordable entry point into franchise investment with great potential for revenue upside.

“Other pro sports team owners are now looking at NASCAR, as team values are still very low especially compared to other sports,” said Andrew Murstein, the former majority owner of Richard Petty Motorsports in a text message with the Journal. “Savvy investors like Marc Lasry have sold their interests in the NBA and have invested in NASCAR as they feel it has a lot more upside.”

To that end, the Steinbrenner family that owns the New York Yankees are ‘kicking the tires’ on acquiring part of a NASCAR team. George Michael Steinbrenner IV and Julia Steinbrenner, children of late New York Yankees co-owner Hank Steinbrenner, are already invested in an IndyCar team run by Andretti Autosport.

The Steinbrenners are not the only interested investor as some within the industry have speculated that such a group could convinced Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelley Earnhardt-Miller and LW Miller to take the JR Motorsports Xfinity Series team to the highest level as well.

But the Steinbrenners’ connection to Andretti, which has a relationship in IndyCar with Group 1001 (Gainbridge Financial) makes it easy to see a viable partnership with Spire Motorsports, who has recently received an investment from Group 1001 as well.

All told, once NASCAR and the race teams sort out its next revenue sharing and charter agreement, its very likely that sports franchise owning private equity outfits could come to NASCAR next.