Denny Hamlin addressed on Monday morning in the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, his first public reactions to being countersued by NASCAR.
Five months into a sports antitrust lawsuit filed by 23XI Racing, co-owned by Hamlin, Michael Jordan and Curtis Polk but also enjoined by Front Row Motorsports, NASCAR posted a counterclaim against those same parties alleging anticompetitive behavior as well.
Specifically, NASCAR claims that Polk orchestrated a boycott of a qualifying race and attempted to forge an illegal collective negotiating tactic as the head of the Teams Negotiating Committee that attempted to broker a deal with the Sanctioning Body on a new charter agreement.
“It came as a surprise to me,” Hamlin said on the podcast. “Certainly, I was very surprised to hear some of the accusation of what was said. All I can really tell you is that I have been in business with Curtis now for five years. The guy is one of the most respected businessmen in all of sports.”
Polk is Jordan’s longtime agent, who has also invested in several business enterprises with the sporting icon.
“He’s been in the business in multiple sports and he helped us build this race team into a championship caliber team by year five, which is what our goal was,” Hamlin continued. “And we saw this when the injunction, right, you heard our side. You heard their side. But when we got into a court room, the judge listened to facts and made judgement based off the facts that he heard and that’s what we’re looking forward to on December 1 when this trial will happen.”
Hamlin is referencing the preliminary injunction decision that effectively forced NASCAR to recognize 23XI and Front Row as having charter membership this season, even though the two teams did not sign the agreement, which predated its decision to sue the Sanctioning Body.
Christopher Yates, NASCAR’s lead attorney also told the Associated Press last week that ‘I don’t think Mr. Polk really understands the sport’ which Hamlin took exception to.
“I found many of those things quite laughable,” Hamlin said. “My favorite was saying Curtis doesn’t know NASCAR business. I don’t even know how to provide an analogy but that’s like saying a chef doesn’t know how to cook. Like, this is what he does. He’s built Michael Jordan’s empire for the past 30 years. The guy knows the business. He’s been doing it for five years now. Curtis has been fantastic for our team and been a pioneer, I believe, and a trailblazer for new ideas that our team uses every time we hit the race track and how we do business, and certain things, and personally, I’m proud to be in business with him.”
Yates also said that Polk is trying to force NASCAR into a model that doesn’t exist in any other motorsport.
“I wouldn’t wrap it up and say all motorsports,” Hamlin said.
