- Xfinity 250 - Martinsville Speedway - 1. (#91) Zack Saunders - 2. (#1) Cory Mott - 3. (#29) Steward Harding Walker - 4. (#69) Caleb Tipton - 5. (#94) Thomas Wolfe - 6. (#22) Nic Vasquez - 7. (#6) Stephen Menke - 8. (#3) Ben Lawson - 9. (#37) Joe T. Wright - 10. (#16) Nathaniel Campbell - 11. (#57) Michael Deitch - 12. (#00) Garth Griswold - 13. (#11) Nishil Condoor - 14. (#7) Steven Carlile - 15. (#8) Zach Johnson - 16. (#99) Justin Bell - 17. (#74) Caleb Sheets - 18. (#30) Mason Hoeffner - 19. (#96) Vince Mitchell
Crown Jewel officials have released the official 2025 Franchise System transition processes and procedures – let’s discuss. Haven’t seen it yet? You can find it here: 2025 Franchise System.
Before we start talking about the franchise system itself, we need to understand how teams will be classified for the remainder of the 2024 season and transitioned over to the 2025 season. With a system like the franchise system, team owners take a step up into a middle management-type role, where they will be responsible for operating their team and will also be responsible for their drivers. As seen below, it is imperative that any teams planning on participating in franchise bidding over the offseason are registered prior to the 2024 Cup Series playoffs and participate in 20 combined races (2 drivers complete one race means 2 combined races) before the end of the 2024 season.
- Full Time Team
- A team that completed a minimum of 20 combined races in the 2024 Cup season.
- Part Time Team
- A team that completed less than 20 combined races in the 2024 Cup season.
- Open Team
- A team that is registered after the beginning of the 2024 Cup Series playoffs.
Now that we understand the types of teams that will be transitioning over, we can outline the transition procedures:
Transition Procedure Breakdown
- At the end of the 2024 season, all drivers will become free agents.
| League | # of Franchises | Cost ($) |
| Crown Jewel Cup Series | 36 | $50.00/season ea. |
| Crown Jewel Xfinity Series | 24 – 30 | $20.00/season ea. |
- Full time teams and Tier III Discord supporters that have been subscribed for a minimum of 3 months will have priority access to Cup Series franchise bidding.
- All teams that do not acquire a Cup Series franchise will have priority access to Xfinity Series franchise bidding.
- Teams may claim a maximum of 4 franchises in each series.
- All un-acquired franchises will be auctioned to the community.
- Full-time Cup Series drivers are ineligible for Xfinity Series drivers points and limited to 8 regular season starts in the Xfinity Series.
- Full-time Xfinity drivers are ineligible for Cup Series drivers points, but are not limited in Cup Series starts.
- Crown Jewel will be hosting a media day for all series on January 29, 2025.
Why a franchise/charter system?
Having a system like this will allow all dedicated community members the opportunity to guarantee a place to race at least once per week in our flagship series. With concerns over the skill level in the league rising, this will allow us to cater to dedicated, long-term members while still offering the opportunity for new drivers to join and race.
The franchise system will bring an aspect of teambuilding not seen anywhere else in iRacing community leagues. Team owners will be responsible for putting the most competitive drivers in the Cup Series, while being encouraged to scout and develop talent in the Xfinity Series. Team owners will take a larger role in the community and continue to grow the overall talent pool within the league. Drivers will naturally climb to the ranks of the Cup Series, while others will fall due to poor performance, team orders, etc. This is the start of a greater expansion towards having a fully developed NASCAR career mode eco-system that spans from Cup all the down to ARCA and eventually beyond.
In the event that participation does not reach the levels expected, we have a failsafe plan to remove the Xfinity franchises and open it back up for full participation. In the event that participation is larger than expected, we also have a rapid acceleration plan in place to implement Truck team owners and move forward with a similar system to expand the ecosystem before the 2025 season starts. However, it is the current plan to keep the VRS Truck Series open to all for the 2025 season.
On top of an expanded ecosystem, expanded owner’s standings will be tracked based off the car numbers ran in the Cup and Xfinity series, and team owners can expect prizes at the end of the season based on performance. As well as a more refined incident system that will be announced later in the fall. These are all features that are now possible due to the new franchise system – with more planned on being added moving into 2025, 2026, and beyond!