NASCAR' "charters" --

  elimination in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the jockeying behind closed doors appears just as intense as NASCAR and owners furiously try to hash out a plan to make the team business a more stable one. NASCAR and the owners might not spin each other out, but they have plenty of details to work through. As with a car, any small piece of the model could disrupt the whole package. The initial NASCAR proposal, according to industry leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity and confirmed by owners and team executives with knowledge of the negotiations, would give team owners of 36 cars guaranteed spots in a Sprint Cup field reduced from the current 43 cars to 40 cars. Those 36 teams would be awarded "charters" -- NASCAR's word for what many would term a franchise -- that could be sold if a team owner wanted to get out of the sport or cut down the number of full-time cars it fields. Since June, team executives and NASCAR have had discussions about putting a system in place for 2016, and NASCAR began explaining to owners its plans after a Sept. 29 meeting with them. The Race Team Alliance, a coalition of most (but not all) Cup owners, met a couple of weeks ago to discuss the proposal and negotiations have continued since then. Those involved said that the talks remain fluid and even the plan for number of charters and the size of the field could change.
There are 43 cars that have attempted every race this year, but only 36 would get charters. Under the initial proposal, it appears that to be eligible for a charter, the current version of the plan requires a team to have been full-time since 2013. That requirement would affect Stewart-Haas Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, which each added a fourth car in the past two years. It also could hurt Penske Racing, which is trying to work with Wood Brothers to field a third full-time car in 2016 for Ryan Blaney. See much more at ESPN.com.(10-20-2015)