France says family remains committed to NASCAR

The France family is “focused on growing and managing NASCAR” says chairman Brian France.

France made a surprise call to the SiriusXM NASCAR Radio show Tradin’ Paint Wednesday afternoon, and among the topics he was asked about was the May report that a stake in the sport could be sold.

"There's nothing to report on that,” said France. “Rumors are always interesting, but they're seldom right. The France family is locked and loaded in our dedication to NASCAR."

Reuters reported that the France family was working with Goldman Sachs to identify any potential deals. Little detail was included as to what a potential sale would include. France’s comments are the first from within the sport on the topic, after a statement from the communications department said at the time of the report there was nothing to add.

The Reuters report came just weeks after NASCAR announced they had acquired the ARCA Racing Series.

Here are some other comments France made during his radio appearance.

Asked what he thought about the contact between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch at New Hampshire:

“The same thing I thought with Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson [a few weeks] before, it’s part of NASCAR. Late in the race you’re going to have some contact, that’s part of it. … But is there bump-and-runs and bumping and charging? Of course. That’s what we’re about. We celebrate that. We don’t shy away from that. That’s the difference between us and probably every other motorsport, they kind of cringe a little bit. We kind of like that. Obviously limits and we’ve always said that, there’s no question about that. What we’ve seen two out of the last [four] weeks is great. We love it.”

Where is NASCAR concentrating most right now?

“The most important thing is satisfying all of our stakeholders, and there are obviously numerous ones, at the same time. But that’s not different from any challenge any commissioner or somebody that’s running a league has. That's always the challenge to balance those interests in a way that are reasonable and fair for everybody and, at the same time, creates results of good competition for the sport… It's balancing the stakeholders' interests, and it changes all the time and it's difficult, but that’s what we do."

Do young drivers need to win more for the sport to grow?

“I think for their interests, never mind the sport’s interests, if you’re Chase Elliott, you’re thinking about posting that win. If you’re Kyle Larson, you want to get more wins. Winning is everything in sports. So, there’s no question about it that if they want to make their mark over time, they have to compete at a high level No. 1 and then win No. 2. And it’s a close tie with how that’s done. In the meantime, dynasties or competitive things like the year Harvick’s having, pretty impressive. Those are good things, too. You take them both at the same time.

“The first thing I tell a young driver, ‘Don’t be happy to be here because you’re here for a reason because you’re really good. Now convert that into high competitive finishes and ultimately wins and be here for a long time.’ If you can’t win, you can’t be here for a long time. They understand that.”

Any chance he’ll be calling Tony Stewart for a Xfinity or Cup race on dirt?

"Probably not going to have that phone call anytime soon, the schedule is pretty full. But he's doing a great job running Eldora and other things he's doing, and the dirt track stuff. So, good for him."