NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick said yesterday that he is "optimistic a deal can be put in place as early as late this season" between NASCAR and the Race Team Alliance to "create some sort of permanent value for the teams," according to Tom Jensen of FOXSPORTS.com. Hendrick "did not proffer any specifics" about what an arrangement between NASCAR and the Sprint Cup Series team owners "would look like." Hendrick: "I hope it takes place before the end of this year." NASCAR Senior VP & Chief Communications Officer Brett Jewkes said that the sanctioning body was "having discussions with all the team owners." However, he said it is "way too early to comment on any specifics or a timetable." Hendrick said, "I want to applaud (NASCAR chairman and CEO) Brian France and NASCAR and (RTA president and Michael Waltrip Racing co-owner) Rob Kauffman and all of the teams, all of the guys that have worked together. Because I'll tell you, one of the most important parts of this deal is when the team owners got together, and our CFOs started looking at how much we were spending, what we were spending, how could we do it cheaper?" He added, "It's going to be good for NASCAR. I think it's going to help bring new owners in, because if you've got something that makes your team worth something and you want to retire, you can sell it or give it to someone else" (FOXSPORTS.com, 9/8).
