‘Bad timing’ behind scrapping of France-backed Spire entry

Jim France wanted to fund a car for an upcoming Cup Series race because of his love of the sport, and further demonstrate that elite drivers from other racing series can be competitive on a NASCAR road course.

The Athletic reported Thursday that France would fund a car that would have been fielded at Sonoma Raceway by Spire Motorsports with Jack Aitken behind the wheel. However, the piece reported that backlash from the garage resulted in the plans being scrapped.

RACER has since learned, amid the speculation as to his reason, that the venture was driven by France’s love of racing. France, praised for his “racer” mentality, has been chairman and CEO of NASCAR since 2018. His father, Bill France Sr, founded the sport.

The revelation that France wanted to fund an entry was not new; he had entertained the idea in the past, but a deal never materialized. Additionally, while the garage viewed it as a conflict of interest, the plans changed in this case because it was seen as bad timing. Sources with knowledge of the situation did not elaborate as to the nature of the bad timing, but pushed back against the speculation of it being tied to the ongoing antitrust lawsuit between NASCAR and two of its teams, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, or because of the backlash from the garage that The Athletic reported.

The car would have given Aitken a chance at NASCAR’s top level while showing that elite drivers from other motorsports disciplines could compete in NASCAR on a road course. Action Express, with which Aitken competes in IMSA and is co-owned by France, did the Next Gen testing when the car was in development.

Sources acknowledged to RACER that while the deal would have represented a conflict of interest, it would have been manageable as a one-off entry and not a full-time team. It was expressed that if France wanted to be full-time in the series, that decision would have been made a long while ago.

There is no telling if France will look to enter a race in the future, but it is presumptuous to say it would be off the table.

RACER reached out to multiple team executives looking for further insight into the garage’s feelings about a potential France-backed entry. Only one, a team owner, spoke with RACER on the condition of anonymity.

In addition to expressing how it would be a conflict of interest, the owner expressed the overall bad optics of the scenario. As the sport is trying to find ways to continue to collaborate and grow the business, and sees itself in the middle of an antitrust lawsuit, the idea of fielding a car was confusing. But the owner also admitted they didn’t know what France’s motivation was for doing so.

The owner summarized the situation: “It makes zero sense for anyone who owns a series to compete in it. It’s a bad look.”