23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports won’t be backing down from the lawsuit, and NASCAR knows that. The two teams that did not sign the charter agreement took the governing body of the sport to court on an anti-trust lawsuit. “It’s obviously the biggest story in the sport,” said Brad Keselowski. “It’s another edition of the ‘As the World Turns: NASCAR’ soap opera. We’ll all find out together (how it turns out).”

Michael Jordan and FRM chose Jeffrey Kessler, the Co-Executive Chairman of the well-known Winston & Strawn. NASCAR very well knows that Michael Jordan and the teams are not messing around with the lawsuit. With the teams bringing in Jeffrey, who is a leading authority in antitrust, trial, and sports law, they knew they had to take action before things went south for them. Knowing that the attorney is on the other side of the suit, it’s only natural that they brought someone with equal, if not more, experience.

And Bob Pockrass was the first one to update the NASCAR world about NASCAR’s representative. Pockrass took to X and wrote, “According to court filings in the 23XI/FRM case, NASCAR will be represented by Chris Yates, a noted attorney whose client list includes the U.S. Soccer Federation, the UFC, World Aquatics, Fanatics, the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.”

While Kessler comes with an antitrust and sports law background, Chris Yates is no ordinary partner at Latham & Watkins LLP—his resume speaks volumes. Once the Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Antitrust & Competition Practice, Yates is currently in the ring representing the UFC in a high-stakes monopsony class action brought by fighters. His track record doesn’t stop there; for over two decades, he has also represented Apple in major monopolization and conspiracy cases, cementing his reputation as a powerhouse in the legal world.

Now that both parties involved have geared up with their lawyers, the situation took an interesting turn. Michael Jordan calling in Jeffrey Kessler made many believe that winning the case might be easy for them, as Kessler comes with a huge resume with success in cases like NFL Free Agency and Salary Cap (1992), NBA Salary Cap (1995), and International Sports Antitrust (Formula 1). But it looks like, even NASCAR’s response has fans confused.

While MJ and Bob Jenkins weren’t the only unhappy ones with the way NASCAR handled the charter negotiations, veterans like Richard Childress admitted that “We didn’t have a choice to sign them, It was just, ‘You sign it or you lose your charters.’ I couldn’t take that gamble, period. And I know a lot of owners I talked to felt the same way.”

Speaking of Jordan’s investment, the 23XI HQ is worth $150 million, and he very well believes that he and other teams have invested quite a lot of money into the sport for NASCAR to give them just one day to sign the agreement without any room for negotiations. So let’s take a look at 23XI Racing’s latest investment into the NASCAR scene.

23XI Racing’s Mercedes F1 inspired HQ: Airspeed

“I got inspired actually from the Mercedes F1 team with how this is all laid out and the pods,” the 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin said as he gave a tour of their newly opened facility earlier this year. “It’s very similar if you’ve watched the Brawn story on Hulu. … I just took little bits and pieces from other shops, other offices, other things, and put it all together into what I wanted.”

23XI Racing’s new headquarters, Airspeed, isn’t your typical race shop—it’s a bold step into the future. Denny Hamlin, the co-founder alongside Michael Jordan, poured his heart into every detail, from hanging greenery in the break room to showcasing 45 Air Jordan sneakers on the wall to visiting multiple race shops, including those of HMS as well as JGR.

Airspeed is built to be more than just a place to work on cars. Hamlin’s goal was to make sure everything, from the open workstations to the workflow line for cars, made teamwork and communication effortless. Instead of the old scattered setup, everything’s under one roof, giving the team the perfect environment to connect, innovate, and compete.

Addressing what makes it special, Hamlin also said, “This is our investment in the sport and our people…Certainly, I think it’s very, very hard given the economics of the sport … it’s been said how tough it is to make it all work. This is the raise for our people.”

With room to expand and big plans for the future, 23XI Racing is making it clear—they’re all-in on changing the game and raising the bar in NASCAR. So for them to launch a lawsuit against NASCAR does seem counterproductive if things go south, but the team looks confident in their decision.

To add to the situation, 23XI Racing will also be adding a charter to run 3 cars next year while renewing Bubba Wallace’s contract for 2025 with a multi-year deal. So with both NASCAR and the two teams going head-to-head on this lawsuit, do you think the two parties will come to a settlement?