Deal for NASCAR owner to fund Cup Series car collapses after criticism

A deal for NASCAR co-owner and CEO Jim France to fund a car to run in the Cup Series has fallen apart, according to reports.

The entry was set to be operated by Spire Motorsports for July's race at Sonoma Raceway in California, with British sports car driver and one-time Formula 1 racer Jack Aitken in position to make his NASCAR debut.

The Athletic report that the deal was close to being signed and completed, but has now been called off shortly after the New York Times-owned website began asking questions about it.

The report also claims that a number of 'high-ranking' officials were less than pleased with the idea of NASCAR's owner getting involved in an entry, with some worrying that France could see the entry as a first step towards forming his own Cup Series team.

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Spire boss: I didn't think entry was a big deal

A similar situation in IndyCar has been controversial lately, with Roger Penske owning both the sport and its most successful team – and being caught in their second cheating scandal in as many years at the Indy 500.

Jeff Dickerson, co-owner of Spire, confirmed to the Athletic that the plans had been in place but claimed that France's team would not have directly run the entry; instead the car being a Spire entry staffed by the team.

He also insisted that the NASCAR CEO didn't get any kind of discount for the potential entry, saying: “I didn’t really even think it was that big of a deal. I didn’t even think it was that deep.”

Dickerson added that the deal had nothing to do with NASCAR's legal dispute with 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, saying: "This deal was just, ‘Here’s my sponsor, here’s my driver. We think he’ll be good at Sonoma. Can we run Sonoma?’ Cool. Yes. Awesome.”

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