23XI, Front Row can compete in '25 with charters
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The two teams suing NASCAR over an antitrust complaint were granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday that allowed them to compete as chartered teams in the 2025 season.
23XI Racing, the team owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports refused in September to sign take-it-or-leave it revenue sharing offers made by NASCAR just 48 hours before the start of the playoffs.
A charter is essentially a franchise and guarantees prize money, a spot in the field each week, and other protections.
The teams had filed an antitrust suit alleging NASCAR is “monopolistic bullies” and had been denied in federal court in November a request to be recognized as “chartered” teams as the suit continues.
23XI and Front Row can now sign the charter agreements and still pursue the lawsuit. They also each were granted permission to purchase additional charters from Stewart-Haas Racing, which closed its four-team shop at the end of the 2024 season, and NASCAR must approve the transfers to those teams.
” YESSSSSSS!!!!!!!” Hamlin wrote on social media.
Jordan had said he took the fight to court on behalf of all teams competing in the top motorsports series in the United States. NASCAR had argued that the two teams simply do not like the terms of the final charter agreement and asked for the lawsuit be dismissed.
