Spire Sports + Entertainment, a North Carolina marketing agency that represents drivers and sponsors, has purchased Furniture Row Racing’s charter, a NASCAR spokesperson confirmed to CATCHFENCE.com Tuesday night.
According to NBC Sports, the new team’s car number will be 77 and field Chevrolet Camaros in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series next season. A driver, sponsor and any team alliance will be announced at a later date.
The team will be co-owned by Spire founders Jeff Dickerson and T.J. Puchyr.
“We think this is the perfect time to buy in,” Dickerson told NBC Sports. “Our guys sit in boardrooms and tell people how they believe in the sport. We believe in the sport. We believe in the leadership.”
The 2017 Cup Series championship team Furniture Row is the most valuable charter to be available for next season. Part of the race winnings paid to teams with charters is based off their performance in the series within the past three years.
With a championship and runner-up finish the past two season, the charter will provide more income than any of the previous charters that have been sold.
After losing their 5hour ENERGY sponsorship in July, the Denver, Co.-based team elected to cease operations following the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway on Nov. 18.
While speculation suggests the charter price to be one of the highest on record, NASCAR does not publicly comment on the price of charters. In August through bankruptcy court, the charter of BK Racing (No. 23) became public when Front Row Motorsports purchased that charter and team equipment for $2.08 million.
Currently, there are 36 charters available in Cup competition. Ownership of a charter guarantees a starting spot for each team through the 36-race schedule.
To maintain the charter, a team must compete in every race and meet NASCAR’s guidelines. If a chartered team finishes in the bottom three among the 36 chartered teams in the owner standings three consecutive years, NASCAR has the right to remove that charter.
Despite their existence in the sport, 2019 will be the first time for Dickerson and Puchyr to be Cup car owners. The charter system has faced some criticism since its inception for not attracting new ownership at the sport’s pinnacle level.
Founded in 2010, Spire Sports + Entertainment represents drivers Landon Cassill, Ross Chastain, Todd Gilliland, IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe, Justin Haley, Kyle Larson, Vinnie Miller and Garrett Smithley.
According to NBC, the company also provides services to Chip Ganassi Racing, GMS Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Toyota Racing Development.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
