“The France family and NASCAR are monopolistic bullies,” 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports’s lawsuit read. “And bullies will continue to impose their will to hurt others until their targets stand up and refuse to be victims. That moment has now arrived.” The lawsuit against NASCAR comes down to accountability. 23XI Racing’s Denny Hamlin has been an outspoken critic of the 2025 charter agreement even before his team refused to sign the sanctioning body’s take-it-or-leave-it proposal on September 6.

Despite the threat of losing their charters, these two NASCAR teams refused to buckle under pressure, even though 13 other teams agreed to the terms with their backs against the wall. Now highlighting the reasons that motivated them to not put pen to paper, Hamlin revealed that by agreeing to NASCAR’s proposal, teams were being forced to give up any form of legal leverage that had which would hold the sanctioning body liable for its actions.

Denny Hamlin said, “When NASCAR put that clause in the very, I’m not speaking out of turn here because all these things are public now, they put in there in the 12th hour, the agreement, they put in there, you may not sue us. If you sign this, you cannot sue us for anything basically that we have done through this process. You can’t sue us for anti-trust. They took away all of our rights. At that point, we said ‘Hold on. Stop, we cannot sign this because we know this is wrong’, but if we do, we release them from any wrongdoing.”

“And they have had wrongdoings… I think to a normal, common person, it is a pretty big red flag,” he said, speaking on the Actions Detrimental podcast,

While the remaining 13 teams have distanced themselves from 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports’ joint lawsuit, they are keenly observing the developments from the sidelines. Even though they can’t publicly speak out against NASCAR or join in on the lawsuit, the outcome of the ongoing situation could affect them, too.

If 23XI and FRM manage to win in court or reach a settlement with favorable terms, all the other racing organizations will also benefit from it. That’s the assumption. But the growing doubt in the community is whether or not other teams will benefit if 23XI and FRM manage to win and that’s what Richard Childress opined. He isn’t sure that the teams who signed the charter have all had the same terms. And say, if 23XI and Front Row later on reach an agreement with NASCAR, will other teams that have already signed be offered the same?

However, if the sanctioning body emerges victorious, the teams that have signed the proposal wouldn’t have to bear the brunt of NASCAR’s wrath.

As things stand, the lawsuit’s lead attorney Jeffrey Kessler believes that it may take a year or two for the case to go to trial. Meanwhile, a preliminary injunction will be filed that will allow 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to compete under the new agreement for the 2025 season despite not putting pen to paper. But if the injunction fails, both of them will be forced to compete as ‘open’ teams next year, which could result in significant financial losses going into each race. It’s fair to say that both teams are playing a risky game, but will it finally hold NASCAR answerable for its actions? Time will tell.

The Talladega race was the first since the lawsuit was filed on October 2. There, Michael Jordan was seen waiting for Front Row Motorsports owner, Bob Jenkins. This was seen as an act of solidarity between the two teams. When MJ was asked about the issue at hand, he stated that he had no plans to speak to Jim France, who was named in the suit. On the other hand, when the NASCAR Chairman, Jim France, was asked about the lawsuit at Talladega, he refused to take the bait and comment on it.

Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan are hoping to bring about a positive change in NASCAR!

In many ways, Denny Hamlin’s motivation behind becoming co-owner of 23XI Racing was to give back to the sport that he loves. Despite not winning a Cup Series championship yet, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran has enjoyed a tremendously successful career, having secured 54 wins at the highest level, including three at the Daytona 500. While the France family has ruled the sport with an iron fist in the past, Hamlin believes that the time has come for a change and for the sanctioning body to be held accountable for its actions going forward.

With five races remaining before the 2024 Cup Series season ends, Denny Hamlin has plenty to look forward to in the upcoming weeks. The Florida native remains in pursuit of his first championship trophy and is hoping to secure a spot in the Round of 8 with a victory at the Charlotte Oval. Given the circumstances, wouldn’t it be something if he makes it to Championship 4 and lifts the silverware at Phoenix Raceway later this year? The result might not go down well with the NASCAR leadership, but that would be the last thing on Hamlin’s mind if his longstanding dream finally comes true.

As for Jordan, he believes, “I love the sport of racing and the passion of our fans, but the way NASCAR is run today is unfair to teams, drivers, sponsors and fans. Today’s action shows I’m willing to fight for a competitive market where everyone wins.”

Their lawsuit claims that NASCAR disregarded the Sherman Antitrust Act after preventing teams from competing without accepting its “anticompetitive terms” and this kind of monopoly is what they want to change. Now we will simply have to wait and see what happens next.