We are almost a month into the NASCAR Offseason and the first mega bombshell has been dropped.

With only 79 days (as of the 2nd of December) till the Daytona 500, NASCAR teams have expressed interest in exhibition races, not sanctioned by NASCAR, as early as the 2023 offseason. Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern tweeted on Tuesday that Race Team Alliance, a coalition with all 36 charters, is deepening its relationship with Wasserman, a sports marketing and talent management company based in Los Angeles, CA, to have the sports marketing agency look into the possibility of holding exhibition races.

Wasserman was already working with the RTA to help the coalition understand its media value heading into NASCAR’s upcoming rights cycle, for which formal negotiations will start in early 2023. The exhibition exploration is a new, incremental addition to the deal for Wasserman.

According to Adam Stern, “teams are interested in this because they are struggling to turn a profit and are looking to find any possible new revenue streams. The events would likely occur in the offseason and apparently would not involve NASCAR. NASCAR’s teams have certain rules they have to abide by as part of the charter agreement with the sanctioning body, and those include not starting competing racing series. That agreement runs through 2024. However, it appears that teams feel they have the legal standing to do some form of exhibition races, as long as they compete in non-NASCAR race cars and branded apparel.”

Based on what Adam Stern said, we could see NASCAR’s 16 charter teams run races during the off-season in other race cars, such as V8 Supercars, Touring Cars, or even Sports Cars.

“While the exact implications of the RTA exploring this via Wasserman are unclear, it does come amid a simmering dispute between NASCAR and its teams over the proposed share of revenue to go to teams under the new media rights deal that will start in 2025. It also comes amid the festering dispute between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, a situation that has been closely watched across sports after LIV started its breakaway property and heaped pressure on the PGA Tour to make seismic changes to its business as players sought more money,” Stern wrote.

We could see NASCAR teams, with Wasserman and the RTA, break away from NASCAR if the demands cannot be met. This would be very similar to the IndyCar and CART breakup we had in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Every year, NASCAR host the All-Star race and the Clash, which are exhibition races run by NASCAR. Toyota also hosted a Gridiron Challenge at Charlotte with NASCAR drivers and football players in 2015 before the Super Bowl, however, the cars used were the stock cars used in 2014. If that were to happen today, it would violate NASCAR’s charter agreement.

Only time will tell if the RTA runs the events or Wasserman gets the teams more money. NASCAR would most definitely fall if the 36 charter teams left and formed their own motorsport.