Earlier in the week, both Denny Hamlin and Mike Forde found themselves on opposite ends of a court room during a hearing and on Saturday were the moderator and subject of a NASCAR Cup Series press conference at Phoenix Raceway.
Interesting times.
Hamlin, in addition to being a veteran racer and co-owner of the car Tyler Reddick will pilot in the championship race on Sunday, is also one of the team owners suing the sanctioning body on antitrust grounds.
Forde is NASCAR’s Managing Director of Racing Communications, who attended the preliminary injunction hearing on Monday in Downtown Charlotte, seated with his senior leadership peers. Hamlin co-owns 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan, who brought the suit alongside Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins.
The two also have a playful adversarial relationship regarding statistics, loop data, and a host of other competition related matters in the sport, including earlier in the week.
So, there was just a certain irony to Forde moderating the press conference with Hamlin just feet away given where they started the week. The irony surely wasn’t lost on them when Hamlin answered a series of questions regarding the lawsuit, the penalty against 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace earlier in the week and the polarizing playoff format.
Part-way through the session, they shared a humorous exchange.
Hamlin: “How much do you want me to get off the stage right now?”
Forde: “It was a good answer…unlike on the podcast the other day.”
That exchange came after Hamlin was asked what he would change about the current NASCAR elimination playoff format.
“Just a bigger sample size — that’s the biggest thing,” Hamlin said. “However, you come about it, I think that there’s tons of discussion on ways that could improve it. I agree the Playoffs will never go away which is quite alright, but certainly the small sample size is really tough because obviously you’ve seen the data and could argue the first four out, the first four in. The sample size was so small there that it certainly jumbled up the results a little bit.”
Hamlin cited variables like what happened to Justin Allgaier in the Xfinity Series this weekend, getting crashed out in practice because another driver lost an engine in front of him. He said there is unfairness about that.
“Racing has so many variables to it, you have to create a larger sample size to get the true answer,” Hamlin said. “So, I just believe we don’t live in a one-on-one sport, we don’t get a seven-game series or anything like that – we live in a world where in our sport only when our competition makes a mistake, it can cost us.
“Usually, in any other sport, competition makes a mistake you capitalize, and you score, or it benefits you. Our sport is not like that so you must create a bigger sample size to get the right answer, and I just think that right now we’ve just narrowed it down to try to get these exciting moments week in and week out and I just think there’s a long-term negative effect to that.”
It was a good answer, to Forde’s point.
On the lawsuit front, it was a mixed bag of results for Hamlin.
He saw the two teams suing NASCAR lose the preliminary injunction request that sought to award them charters over the lawsuit, or at a minimum, waive the release in both the charter system and open agreement that prevents teams from suing NASCAR on antitrust grounds.
The judge determined that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports did not show proof of irreparable harm in the loss of sponsorship money, standing in the industry, or of driver opt-out clauses if they are forced to race as open next year.
All of that is being appealed.
At the same time, the judge ordered an expedited discovery, meaning that the judge sees enough merits in the case to proceed quickly into opening key sealed documents for the two parties to argue in court. That was a win for Hamlin, Jordan and their contemporaries.
“The first part is, we’re obviously pleased with the ruling that the judge sees merits in the case,” Hamlin said. “He’s going to move forward to expedite it and expedite the discovery side of it, which is a reverse from what he had before.
“Obviously, judging on it without prejudice and obviously giving us an opportunity to refile once the situation changes because he knows that things will change over the next few months. He understands the complexity of it and obviously understands that this situation is fluid, and we obviously could see some pretty bad harm coming up.”
If NASCAR will not be forced by the court into enter into a loose charter agreement with the two teams, what does that mean moving forward for the two charters they’ve had and the two they were set to acquire?
“No, I don’t have any indication of it – I don’t.”
Hamlin also, for the first time, backed off his language that his team would compete next year, no matter what, even if that meant racing as an open team.
That was used against his parties in court so now Hamlin would not commit to having cars entered next season.
“I think it’s all TBD,” Hamlin said. “There’s certain things that we’re going to have to navigate so I hope so.”
For what it’s worth, Hamlin has previously told partners at a sponsorship summit over the summer that 23XI Racing intends to compete and also said as much in several press conferences. That was then used against the teams in court filings and in hearings this past month, likely leading to the change in rhetoric.
For his part, Wallace says he expects to race at 23XI next year, after signing a multi-year agreement.
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been told,” Wallace said. “I’m not on social media anymore. So these updates are new news to me. I’ll keep showing up to race until I’m told otherwise.”
Even though 23XI dropped its $200,000 in fines and suspensions penalty for race manipulation centering around the speed Wallace lost in the closing laps, Hamlin was still adamant that his driver had a mechanical issue and that’s the only reason he backed up to Christopher Bell, who needed the spot.
“We looked at the right rear tire and there was no pinholes left,” Hamlin said. “There was no pinholes at all so the tire had gone completely bald. Very similar to what Carson Hocevar’s did earlier in the race. He had the same thing happen to him late in a run. But it’s water under the bridge and certainly we’re moving on.”
23XI dropped the appeal, wanting to instead focus on winning the race and championship this weekend with Tyler Reddick, who also struggled to find speed during practice on Friday.
“Just for him, I think it’s just taking a breath, going day by day, right,” Hamlin said of Reddick. “Not getting too wound up over one practice session or one qualifying session. The Championship is a long way from being crowned, right? We’ve got lots of laps around this place and I certainly think that he’ll have a great shot when it’s all said and done. But, just enjoying it. Truthfully, I think that my first time having a shot in the last race I didn’t enjoy the moment quite as much as I should have because I was nervous and certainly, it’s hard not to get nervous. But I certainly think that he was probably wound a little bit tight yesterday, and I think today is a new day.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.
