23XI Racing is in the trickiest corner in all motorsports at the moment. The team’s legal battles against NASCAR reached a precarious point this June when a three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the preliminary injunction that had been granted to them back in December 2024. This gave NASCAR the right to sell the team’s charters at will.
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To restrict the promotion from doing so, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have filed for another injunction and a restraining order. The results of this filing will be out this week following the assessment of a judge. Based on the outcome, the teams could retain or stand to lose their charters. 23XI’s co-owner Denny Hamlin has now stressed that all this chaos won’t affect performance strategies within the team.
Neither Tyler Reddick nor Bubba Wallace has won a race yet in the 2025 Cup Series season. But both drivers are currently in contention for the playoffs based on points. Hamlin said on Actions Detrimental, “We’re going to race. One thing is for sure is that we’ve always said that we’re committed to racing this season, whether it be chartered or unchartered.”
If the charters are revoked, the drivers will have to race as open entries. There is a chance that they could miss a race or two by doing so. Hamlin admitted that such a situation would be detrimental since they would miss out on gaining crucial playoff points. However, the hope is that things don’t come to that.
Why has 23XI Racing filed a restraining order against NASCAR?
Hamlin is sure that there is strong evidence of NASCAR’s monopolistic acts in the stock car racing platform. In light of this, he doesn’t think that it is right for the promotion to have the right to sell his team’s charters.
Hamlin’s argument is best told in his own words: “Through discovery we have obviously revealed, and so much of this is redacted, a series of monopolistic acts that have occurred. So, we believe that the status quo of us having our charters should not be disturbed until this is resolved on December 1st in the courtroom.
“To kind of explain the restraining order, we’re seeking for them not to be able to take and then sell our charters because, if we prevail in December, how do you go get that back? Like, you can’t.”
It remains to be seen if a judge will see the apparent logic in this. Interestingly, the three-judge panel had vacated the initial ruling in June because the teams had not demonstrated a likelihood of success on their antitrust claims. Will it be seen differently this time? The team’s fate will be decided in court later this week.
