Nick Sanchez Shows Why Teams Need To Start Funding Themselves

Recently, BMR announced that Nick Sanchez, despite having been promised a contract through 2026, has been cut by the team right before the 2026 season is set to dawn. That is a totally horrible way to treat one of the sport’s best up-and-coming talents.

Why Big Machine Racing Really Cut Nick Sanchez

This is a lack of funding on his part. With Sanchez saying it was “unfortunate timing and circumstances, but it’s strictly business.” The same driver who last year got the team its second-ever win and third straight playoff appearance.

Plus, Nick Sanchez has never brought funding to the table, with Gainbridge coming from Spire and Spiked Coolers coming from Big Machine Racing. But it’s not like BMR can’t find more funding; the owner is not strapped for cash.

Scott Borchetta, who owns Big Machine Racing, also owns Big Machine Label Group, a record company that’s not a small player in the music industry. And by not a small player, I mean the current label of Mötley Crüe and the former and first-ever label of Taylor Swift.

So he has plenty of ways to fund Nick Sanchez’s ride if they really wanted to. Making Nick Sanchez’s firing only that much more unfair. Scott is obviously first and foremost responsible for his actions. One of the reasons he did this was because of the culture NASCAR teams have cultivated.

Nick Sanchez And Drivers Like Him Vs. NASCAR Team Laziness

We’re always told that pay drivers are a needed evil. Because of how expensive racing is and how needed sponsors are. And while that may be true, pay drivers are not the only solution to this problem.

Something a lot of teams don’t try, or don’t try enough, is to sell their own drivers and or their own brand to attract sponsors. This could help drivers like Nick Sanchez get the more competitive rides they deserve.

Now this wouldn’t be easy for a few reasons. NASCAR is far from its peak in popularity, and the economy isn’t doing so well either, making it hard for NASCAR to sponsor and harder for sponsors to want to sponsor NASCAR.

But still, NASCAR managers attract sponsors, big and small, for the cars, races, victory lane, and broadcasts. So NASCAR, despite its best efforts, still has some value, and so it’d be smart for teams to milk as much of it as they can. It’d be better for the sport, too.

Why NASCAR Teams Should Sell Themselves

If NASCAR ever wants to get anywhere close to its peak popularity, selling itself is the best thing it can do. While NASCAR’s terrible decision would’ve made a downfall inevitable. The team’s apathy towards selling themselves has only made things worse.

With so many things competing for your eyeballs in the attention economy, if you’re not doing everything you can to try and impress as many people as possible. You’ll be left behind. The days of build it and they will come are over. You have to let people know there’s a racetrack there and why they should come.

It’s why F1, for the first time, was the most popular motorsport in America because both the series and the teams have been doing everything to schmooze and prove their worth to the biggest companies out there.

Thus, they put their money behind them and helped them to get in the eyes of as many people as possible. While NASCAR teams and the series itself twiddle their thumbs, wondering why people aren’t watching.

Final Thoughts

America was built on selling yourself and whatever you brought to the table. And it’s time for NASCAR and its teams to bring back that American spirit to the sport. Thanks a bunch for reading!