Rick Hendrick on signing NASCAR's new charter agreement: 'I was just tired'

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Rick Hendrick, the winningest owner in NASCAR history, said Tuesday “I was just tired” of the lengthy negotiations over a new charter agreement and that played into his decision to sign NASCAR's final offer.

NASCAR gave teams a deadline of last Friday night to sign and 13 teams — all but two — agreed to the deal that now runs through 2031. The two holdouts are the Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

Hendrick, at a news conference to announce Kyle Larson will run the Indianapolis 500 in 2025, said that more than two years of negotiations with NASCAR over extending team charters had been draining.

“I think we worked really hard for two years and it got down to, you're not going to make everybody happy. And I think it got down to, I was just tired,” Hendrick said. “Not everybody was happy. But in any negotiation, you're not going to get everything you want, and so I felt it was a fair deal and we protected the charters, which was number one, we got the (revenue) increase, I feel a lot of things we didn't like we got taken out, so I'm happy with where we were.”

Charters — 36 are in use now among 15 teams — guarantee access to all lucrative Cup Series races.

The teams had sought four things during negotiations: a larger share of the revenue, a seat at the table for governance issues, a cut on business deals NASCAR does that use team or driver likenesses, and, most importantly, for charters to become permanent, locking in stability.

NASCAR balked at making the charters permanent and last week's final offer did not include it; the new deal also has language that would allow the series-owning France family to hold charters and field their own teams.

23XI Racing, which is owned by Jordan, Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk, led the teams in negotiating for changes. In a surprise, Bob Jenkins of the smaller Front Row Motorsports team joined 23XI in refusing to sign the 105-page document.

Hendrick isn't sure what 23XI and Front Row are hoping to gain by holding out. The charters they hold will theoretically expire and be revoked in December without an agreement with NASCAR.

“I don't have a dog in that,” Hendrick said. "I mean, it's like, we've had so many meetings about this thing. I feel like the majority of teams felt like we got as much as we could and it was time to move on.

“And good luck to them. They feel very strong about their position, where they are, and I don't even know what the reaction from NASCAR even was.”

The series has not commented on the situation in months. Hendrick said if 23XI and Front Row are somehow able to negotiate their individual charter agreements then any concessions they get would need to be offered to the 13 teams that signed last week.

“I think NASCAR, if they change anything for those two teams, that will go across the board,” Hendrick said. “I'm pretty sure that would be the right thing to do because we, the teams that signed at the deadline, and then they make another deal a little bit better somewhere, that would be wrong.”

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Chase Elliott steers down the front stretch during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Darlington Raceway, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in Darlington, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)

William Byron looks on prior to during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Darlington Raceway, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in Darlington, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)

Rick Hendrick on signing NASCAR's new charter agreement: 'I was just tired'

Rick Hendrick on signing NASCAR's new charter agreement: 'I was just tired'

Kyle Larson steers through Turn 4 during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Darlington Raceway, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in Darlington, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy" Combs was expected to appear before a federal judge in New York on Tuesday after his indictment on undisclosed criminal charges.

The music mogul was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami.

The indictment detailing the charges was expected to be unsealed Tuesday morning, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

Over the past year, Combs has been sued by people who say he subjected them to physical or sexual abuse. He has denied many of those allegations and his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, called the new indictment an “unjust prosecution.”

“He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said in a statement late Monday.

Combs, 54, was recognized as one of the most influential figures in hip-hop before a flood of allegations that emerged over the past year turned him into an industry pariah.

In November, his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit saying he had beaten and raped her for years. She accused Combs of coercing her, and others, into unwanted sex in drug-fueled settings.

The suit was settled in one day but months later CNN aired hotel security footage showing Combs punching and kicking Cassie and throwing her on a floor. After the video aired, Combs apologized, saying, “I was disgusted when I did it.”

Combs and his attorneys, however, denied similar allegations made by others in a string of lawsuits.

Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer for Cassie, said in a statement Tuesday that “neither Ms. Ventura nor I have any comment.”

“We appreciate your understanding and if that changes, we will certainly let you know,” he added.

A woman said Combs raped her two decades ago when she was 17. A music producer sued, saying Combs forced him to have sex with prostitutes. Another woman, April Lampros, said Combs subjected her to “terrifying sexual encounters,” starting when she was a college student in 1994.

The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie and Lampros did.

Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, has gotten out of legal trouble before.

In 2001, he was acquitted of charges related to a Manhattan nightclub shooting two years earlier that injured three people. His then-protege, Shyne, was convicted of assault and other charges and served about eight years in prison.

This story has been corrected to show that Combs' age is 54, not 58.

Associated Press writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

FILE - Host Sean "Diddy" Combs presents the revolt black excellence award at the Billboard Music Awards, May 15, 2022, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Sean 'Diddy' Combs is expected in court after New York indictment

Sean 'Diddy' Combs is expected in court after New York indictment

FILE - Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the LA Premiere of "The Four: Battle For Stardom" at the CBS Radford Studio Center on May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)