The opening day of the antitrust trial brought by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR began with more emotional force than anyone expected, and Denny Hamlin found himself at the center of it.
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The suit accuses NASCAR of using its power to maintain a monopoly and secure greater profits at the expense of the teams, and Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, arrived fired up after publicly criticizing a biased pre-trial coverage by one of the leading media houses.
In the days leading up to the hearing, Hamlin had blasted an article, arguing that fans had been “brainwashed” by NASCAR’s talking points for decades. He promised that once the trial opened Monday morning, the “lies” would end and the truth would finally surface. Yet only minutes into his testimony, the emotion of the moment overwhelmed him.
The early questioning was routine: Hamlin’s racing background, his career, the state of his 2025 season, but it quickly turned to the financial strain placed on teams. Hamlin stressed that the teams must compete not only with rival organizations but also with NASCAR itself for sponsorship.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver repeated the point three times, emphasizing, “First, I have to fend off the series. If a new sponsor wants to come in, NASCAR will go after them. I have to fight them. I have to fight other teams for them. I have to fight them for employees.”
Then, when asked how he began his NASCAR journey, Hamlin broke down, explaining that he had become emotional because his father “is not in great health.”
Hamlin described reaching a crossroads at age 20 when he had to choose between continuing his racing dream or joining his father’s trailer business. He said he knew that without finding success alongside Michael Jordan as a partner, his journey would never work.
Hamlin testified that it costs roughly $20 million to field a single Cup car for a 38-race season, excluding overhead such as driver salaries. The charter system provides $12.5 million of that
Court has let out for the day. Denny Hamlin was on the witness stand but the plaintiffs’ examination was only partially completed prior to the end of day.
They’ll resume tomorrow.Notable quotes
“Did you graduate?”
“They gave me a diploma.”“How did your most recent season… pic.twitter.com/6trwqjkQnd
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) December 1, 2025
Attorney Jeffrey Kessler, representing the teams, reinforced the financial imbalance in his opening remarks, noting that Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins has never turned a profit since starting his team in 2004, despite winning the 2021 Daytona 500. Kessler also pointed to a NASCAR-commissioned study showing that 75 percent of teams lost money in 2024.
When asked directly if he believed the charter model was fair, Hamlin replied that if it were, dozens of teams wouldn’t have gone out of business. “Only one side is going out of business,” he said pointedly. He added that NASCAR controls charter costs, and values can swing wildly due to midseason rule changes or international races, sometimes adding $1.5 million per car.
With that, the first day of testimony closed, tense, emotional, and already laying bare the financial rift at the center of the sport. The trial resumes Tuesday.
