Richard Petty Motorsports co-Owner Andrew Murstein said NASCAR needs a spending cap to create a "level playing field" in the Monster Energy Cup Series, according to Dustin Long of NBCSPORTS.com. Murstein said, "It’s salaries ... its wind-tunnel time, it’s the whole kit and caboodle. It's better for the fans, I think, if there is a level playing field. No one can outspend the other guy. It’s better for the owners. It creates more competition, more excitement." Murstein said that he "raised his points about a spending cap" with NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France. Murstein said, "This sport needs to start coming up with revolutionary concepts, so they have to leave the past in the past and they have start looking to the future." Murstein also wants a luxury tax imposed, saying, "Punish the ones that don’t care about spending and that extra money goes into a pool that would help the other owners, and hopefully they would use their money to make their cars more competitive." Long noted as teams "struggle to find sponsorship, driver contracts take a hit." Murstein said, "Their salaries are low compared to other sports, but the business needs that right now with the sponsorship decline." Murstein added, "There are a lot of bright spots in NASCAR, too. I’m just trying, as the new kid on the block, to throw new ideas out there. Some of them will get knocked down right away, which they should because I don’t have the experience that a lot of these other team owners do, but they have to start thinking, in my view, of new and better ways to get the fans interested" (NBCSPORTS.com, 8/4).
