In a major development in the charter lawsuit filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR, full-time drivers Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick now stand the risk of missing out on races for the remainder of the season.
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The No. 23 and No. 45 drivers will be operating as open teams qualifying to run races based on their speed each weekend after a preliminary injunction in the antitrust case — which was ruled in favor of the teams by a U.S. District Court last year — has been overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals this week.
Despite the preliminary injunction being ruled in favor of NASCAR, leading sports attorney Jeffrey Kessler is confident in fighting for the teams’ benefit come the main trial scheduled for December 1, 2025.
“We remain confident in our case and committed to racing for the entirety of this season as we continue our fight to create a fair and just economic system for stock car racing that is free of anticompetitive, monopolistic conduct,” he elaborated in a statement by the teams.
As a result of their charters being revoked, both 23XI and FRM will also receive a significantly lower share of the race purse every weekend. This decision is not only set to hamper driver and team morale, but is also set to affect the organization’s financials detrimentally.
While Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick have exhibited consistent speed throughout the 2025 season, this development now means both drivers stand the risk of missing out on any given race weekend if they were to falter on Saturdays.
Both drivers now find themselves in the shoes of Helio Castroneves running the 2025 Daytona 500, only without the ‘Open Exemption Provisional’ rule to save their backs in case they do not qualify for the race.
A time frame of 14 days has been granted to both teams to petition for a rehearing. Whether the teams decide to go down that route remains to be seen. One thing is for certain, however, if the ruling were to stay in favor of NASCAR, both teams would lose millions of dollars in charter value and race winnings from the sport.
While it would seem that both organizations are capable of absorbing the financial setback, what would this mean for their operational standpoint and their future in the sport? At the very least, the ruling has sent alarm bells ringing across the fraternity.
It now remains to be seen if Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, along with the FRM owners, decide to back down from the upcoming fight on December 1 or take it head-on.
