“Let the games begin.” But the real question remains whether they stretch too far or come up short in the fallout. Yes, 23XI Racing & Front Row Motorsports’ impending lawsuit against NASCAR has plenty searching for answers. Thankfully, Kenny Wallace has some of his own. But something tells us neither Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin, nor Bob Jenkins will be too happy with his candid observations.

There’s been quite a lot of movement in the plaintiffs’ anti-trust litigations recently. For starters: the federal court in Western North Carolina has officially set a hearing date: November 7th. But as the days roll by, so does the legitimacy of what could be a landmark moment in the history of stock car racing. So, instead of scratching the surface like most would, The Hermanator has delved deep into all the details to help us understand the gravity of the situation.

23XI Racing’s injunction before the November 7th court hearing

Like NASCAR this week, Kenny Wallace has been keeping busy with plenty on his plate, as the sport works through yet another challenging situation. The 61-year-old only recently became a part of Dale Jr’s Dirty Mo Media Network with some big plans in the pipeline. To gather his bearings, the “super sub” even replaced Dale Jr himself on the man’s flagship podcast, as Jr celebrated his 50th birthday on Oct. 10th. Indeed, that is positive news that comes in the background of a highly contentious dispute gone south between NASCAR and two of its most marketable race teams.

After 23XI & FRM decided not to join the rest of the chartered teams on NASCAR’s final charter agreement, dated September 6th, the holdouts filed an Anti-Trust Lawsuit almost a month later against the sport’s sanctioning body and its founding family. From accusing NASCAR of “monopolistic” business practices to claims that the sport deprives its competitors of a fair chance, the filing goes above and beyond to vindicate NASCAR. However, one thing that stands out in their 46-page suit is an “injunction.”

According to their demands, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports wish to operate under the 2025 Charter Agreement without following NASCAR’s antitrust stipulation. That means the Plaintiffs are asking the Defendants “to accept and operate under the 2025 Charter Agreement until the completion of this litigation without being subject to any claim by Defendants that Plaintiffs have relinquished their antitrust claims…” – as per the legal language on Paragraph 25. And in the words of Kenny Wallace on his YouTube channel, “This is a killer. Now, this is my opinion… This is not good for Michael Jordan & Denny Hamlin and here’s why…”

“The courts have to rule whether to allow 23XI and Front Row. And listen, Front Row is not anywhere in this paperwork. I know you’re going to start responding going: ‘Front Row too. Front Row too.’ Well listen, Bob Pockrass and everybody, I don’t see 23XI anywhere. All they show, you know, is the letter from 23XI to Steve Phelps and then they show NASCAR’s response. So even though you have 23XI and Front Row’s involved, I don’t see nothing from Front Row, and I thought it would be that way…”

But then Wallace explained the real kicker about that injunction, “NASCAR’s first response is NO. Capital N-O… And I’ll end like this. When you read it all, 23XI is not asking for anything. It’s really weird they just say, ‘We want better.’ It doesn’t say, ‘Hey NASCAR, give everybody 10 million more. It doesn’t say: give us this give us that. It just says we want more.”

The lawsuit states that a full-time Cup Series team requires 18 million dollars and upwards to remain competitive in the current picture. The new media revenue under the contentious charter agreement model will make teams 40% more than they did under the one set to expire at the 2024 season’s end. Regardless, there might be a few reasons Front Row Motorsports isn’t making much noise ahead of their joint hearing in North Carolina. As for the injunction? There is one important factor to consider.

Bob Jenkins holds hope, but can Front Row stay in the fight?

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NASCAR cannot refuse the injunction. Only the judge handling this anti-trust case can do that. His name is Frank Whitney, a former military intelligence officer with almost two decades of experience as a federal prosecutor. Alongside him is Magistrate Judge Susan Rodriguez, who will manage certain motions related to this case. Judge Rodriguez recently oversaw a breach of contract trial involving Front Row owner Bob Jenkins and BK Racing co-owner Michael DiSeveria over unsettled debts on a charter the former had purchased from the latter. For those interested, FRM had won that case.

Besides, it’s not like Bob Jenkins is completely silent about his most recent legal troubles. Before NASCAR “refused” to agree to the injunctions in their lawsuit, the Tennessee-based business owner appeared hopeful to Jenna Fryer of AP. “We’re pretty confident about this lawsuit or we wouldn’t be doing it,” Jenkins had said. “There’s a lot of money out there. I’m hoping NASCAR won’t fight the injunction and we can move forward.” But the fact remains: NASCAR cannot refuse the injunction if the judge rules otherwise.

Likewise, Jenkins doesn’t need to say much with his media-savvy plaintiff partners from 23XI Racing by his side. After all, renowned anti-trust lawyer Jeffrey Kessler seems completely in tune with the various objectives of the collective he’s representing. However, Jenkins had previously also stated in the court filings: “We are determined to race next year, even if we have to do so on an ‘open’ basis. But at some point, the losses may become so severe that we simply cannot continue — causing irreparable harm to our business, our employees, and the communities and fans we are associated with.”

And this injunction gathering all this steam is certainly not a good look in the face of their highly publicized legal ‘revolution’ against the sport. Plus, NASCAR LLC has brought in its own heavyweight counsel for the court battles that will follow. Chris Yates from Latham & Watkins has an impressive resume. He handled an anti-trust case filed by over 1000 fighters against the UFC. The case ended in a $375 million settlement on behalf of the organization.

This one’s shaping up to be a battle for the ages, but whether it will end favorably for either side remains a tough question. So would you say Kenny Wallace is somewhere right in his own opinion?