"It wasn’t that abnormal": Jeff Dickerson clears the air on Jim France-backed Spire plan amid NASCAR garage concerns

Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson has addressed concerns about the involvement of NASCAR CEO and chairman Jim France in the aftermath of controversy surrounding a proposed Cup Series entry at Sonoma Raceway. The plan, which included fielding a Chevrolet-powered Spire car supported by Hendrick Motorsports and driven by France's IMSA driver Jack Aitken, was met with unease among teams and executives. France later backed out of the deal to fund his Cup Series entry after a strong negative reaction from Cup teams.

During a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Dickerson said that the initiative was not as unprecedented as perceived. He explained that the car would have been fielded entirely by Spire Motorsports, with their own equipment, crew and operations.

"I didn't look at it any different than anybody, than anybody else would that was just calling in and saying, 'Hey, we got a guy, got a sponsor, you know, can we put something together?' But I don't know, that's essentially, it was our stuff...I think that's the other part here...[It] wasn't like Jim's having, or there was a NASCAR team. It was our team, our crew, our crew chief," Dickerson said. [0:50 onwards]

"Just didn't seem like that abnormal for guys that know Jim or whatever, just like, he's just a racer. Wanted to go racing. Want to see what it's like... I don't think his intentions were any deeper than that, really," he added.

Dickerson also shared that the opportunity came up when France expressed interest in evaluating 29-year-old road-course specialist, Aitken's performance in a Cup car and Spire agreed to facilitate this.

"Maybe I should have done a better job, perhaps, with thinking a few steps ahead... maybe the optics of it weren't great," Dickerson added.

He also maintained that the intentions were straightforward and Jim France wanted to go racing.

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Why NASCAR teams opposed Jim France's proposed entry

The backlash was rooted in concerns about potential conflicts of interest, given Jim France's leadership role in the series. Many NASCAR teams felt uneasy about the series chairman entering a car in the Cup Series.

The Athletic's Jeff Gluck shared the story on X late last month, writing:

"Jim France was down the road with plans to fund a Cup Series car at Sonoma, which would have seen the NASCAR CEO partner with Spire, Hendrick and Chevy. The deal fell apart shortly after @TheAthletic began working on a story about it. W/ @Jordan_Bianchi."

While other series, like Roger Penske's dual role as series owner and team operator in IndyCar have preceded this, NASCAR has previously avoided allowing its leadership to own or operate Cup Series teams to maintain fairness and credibility.

However, NASCAR did collaborate with Hendrick Motorsports to enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a modified Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in 2023.