Brian France says NASCAR has no plans to address the issue of driver contracts. Credit: Autostock

France: NASCAR to stay clear of contract issues

While NASCAR has no plans to add any rules about tampering, chairman Brian France does expect the recent signings of Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch while still under contract to other teams to cause some changes.

"Well, we're not happy about it," France said. "It's an issue that's new, but it's really between the team owner and the driver. My sense (is) the team owners will be shoring up their own contracts in the future to prevent such possibility of a lame duck time. I think it's an area the team owners are going to really start addressing a little differently."

McMurray was the first to roil the Nextel Cup waters, signing for 2007 with Roush Racing while still obligated to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2006.

The driver acknowledges he was hoping that Ganassi would make some kind of a deal with Roush to allow him to make the move to the No. 6 Ford that Mark Martin plans to leave after this season to go truck racing. But Ganassi has remained adamant that such a deal is not going to happen and both the owner and the driver have said repeatedly they are now committed to each other for next season.

The defection of Busch, the reigning Cup champion, from Roush to Penske Racing South was an even bigger shock to NASCAR insiders.

Busch also is under contract through 2006 and Roush isn't about to let him go. That leaves the Penske team without a driver for the No. 2 Dodge currently driven by Rusty Wallace, who also plans to retire at the end of this season.

In other sports, signing somebody -- or even talking with them about leaving -- while they are under contract to another team is considered tampering and can result in serious penalties.

But France said it's not something that NASCAR will address.

"Well, we don't want to because it's a free-market situation and the drivers are independent contractors," he said. "We are different and their contracts are not with us; they are with the team owners, and we want them to get it right. If we have to look at some ways to help them along, we would. But we'd like to let them figure it out."

In a sport where handshake agreements -- so-called gentlemen's agreements, rather than contracts -- have generally been the norm, the moves by McMurray and Busch are somewhat startling.

"There are still a lot of gentlemen around, but I don't think they necessarily act like it," France said. "It's just so competitive, and any edge that you can get to get some star power on your team is heightened now. That's the good and the bad of elevating the sport to such a level."

But France thinks there is more to it than the drivers just looking for a big dollar deal.

"This is a team sport," he said. "One of the things that we forget about is it's somewhat about chemistry and how one driver fits in with another team plays into it. That's really where we're at."