Back in March, after more than a year of speculation, the Kubota High Limit Racing Series presented by FloRacing announced the details of a landmark franchise system that would be implemented heading into the 2026 season. The plan called for 5 initial franchises, based on the highest finishing teams from 2024, followed by an additional five franchises to be awarded at the conclusion of the 2025 season. Up to five additional franchises could also be awarded to teams for the 2028 season. During that announcement, the first batch of franchises were awarded to the following teams.
- Kasey Kahne Racing #49
- Clauson-Marshall Racing #7BC
- Rico Abreau Racing #24
- Roth Motorsports #83
- Murray-Marks Motorsports #19
With the 2025 finish line in sight, let’s take a look at who is likely to land the next batch of franchises. They will be awarded to the five teams that don’t already have a franchise, with the best average points total between 2024 and 2025. Based on that criterion, there were seven teams eligible coming into the 2025 season. One of those teams, the Kasey Kahne Racing #9 team, announced last month that the car would be parked for the remainder of 2025, ending their chances of landing one of the franchises. That left six teams vying for five franchises, or did it? The Roth Motorsports #83 team, which was given one of the original franchises, elected not to sign the franchise agreement, thus forfeiting their franchise. Series officials have said that Roth’s franchise will be added to the five for a total of six to be handed out this season. Seemingly, that would suggest that everyone except the #9 of Kasey Kahne Racing will get a franchise at season’s end. Let’s just assume for a moment, though, that only five were being given out, who would get them based on current points? Below is some math I did based on my understanding of the rule.
| Avg Points | Team | Car # |
| 2034 | Ridge & Sons Racing #87 | 87 |
| 2019 | Jason Meyers Racing #14 | 14 |
| 2011.5 | Buch Motorsports #13 | 13 |
| 1907 | Rod Gross Motorsports #88 | 88 |
| 1878.5 | Rudeen Racing #26 | 26 |
| 1550 | CJB Motorsports #5 | 5 |
| 13.5 | Kasey Kahne Racing #9 | 9 |
Obviously, there are nearly twenty more events on the 2025 schedule, but if the season ended today, the CJB Motorsports #5 and the Kasey Kahne Racing #9 would likely be the ones left out. Lucky for us, there is still plenty of racing left, and lucky for CJB, there is an extra franchise at play, possibly.
What is a franchise?
Franchising was introduced into American motorsports in 2016 when NASCAR introduced its “charter” system. The intent was to give the team’s owners a tangible “token” of ownership in the sport. If a team decides to move on, they can sell the franchise to another interested team and recoup some or all of their investment in the sport. It would seem that High Limit has learned some things from NASCAR’s rollout, as they made their franchising system permanent out of the gate. Hopefully, they also left out the nasty lawsuit and embarrassing text message portion of the program.
That’s not where it ends, though. Being a franchise team gives you access to a better payout model. The franchise payout scale for High Limit will split $2,600,000 amongst the ten franchised teams in 2026, with that number expected to grow to $3,720,000 by 2029. For perspective, in 2024, under the existing system, the championship team won $250,000 from the season points fund; in 2026, that same position would pay out $425,000 for a franchised team. For franchised teams, this new payout replaces the current tow fund and payout model. The current payout model will still exist in some form for non-franchise teams, plus they will still be eligible for regular race purses as well as the new “Winner Bonus Pool” that will also debut in 2026. That system will reward the five winningest teams throughout the season with some extra money. Many have estimated the cost of running a competitive High Limit car to upwards of $700,000 per year, so this new payout model intends to help create a more sustainable business model for teams who are an integral part of the series and its future. That’s huge in an age where costs continue to skyrocket and many teams don’t even break even at season’s end.
Image sourced via High Limit’s FB Page