Kyle Larson is watching the lawsuit against NASCAR by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports as an interested party on two different levels.
There is Larson, the race car driver, but also Larson the series co-owner of the High Limit Sprint Car Series, which has a charter system that will materialize by the start of the 2026 season.
“It’s obviously the biggest story this sport currently has, and maybe in a long time,” Larson said during media availabilities on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. “So yeah, naturally, I’m going to follow it but I haven’t thought it about from the (series ownership) standpoint but will put more thought into it once we have more answers.”
Larson has a vested interest in this development because, in theory, teams could be better positioned to pay drivers more if they received a great slice of revenue from NASCAR. Specifically, the lawyer representing 23XI and Front Row claim that teams only receive 13 percent of revenue from the league and drivers receive only three percent.
Athletes in other sports receive closer to half of league revenue and Larson said he didn’t even fully appreciate that concept until the lawsuit this week.
“We are probably one of the only sports, if not the only sport, where athlete salaries have gone down in the last couple of decades,” Larson said. “Yearly, athlete salaries are going up and not just athletes but coaches, staff members, everyone in sports.
“Obviously, we would love to see it trend upwards versus downward like it has been but I think the teams will need to make a lot more money to make it viable to pay all employees more.”
Chase Briscoe echoed many of those sentiments too in offering that he is an interested observer.
“I haven’t read the lawsuit or anything, right,” Briscoe said. “But the way I understand it, this isn’t just about drivers, it’s the whole industry. It’s the crew guys to the ones sweeping the floors and if these teams made more money, they could pay people better.
“Look, I’m not a lawyer or attorney, whatever you call it, but I’ll either benefit from it or I won’t so I’ll stay out of it and let the people who are handling it handle it.”
A diplomatic William Byron simply said he hopes to see the sport grow from this, no matter the result.
“I just feel like this sport has so much opportunity,” Byron said. “I have a lot of friends who watch it and I just think we could stand to continue to evolve.”
His teammate, Alex Bowman, had jokes.
“I feel like you guys (the media) had a really quiet week,” Bowman said. “Were you busy?”
But he also said he’s an interested observer too.
“I’m definitely following it,” Bowman said. “As a driver, you know, my views are so different in how I view the sport is different than someone who runs a team, or the sport, or even a fan so what’s interesting to me is reading everyone’s views and seeing how everyone thinks this needs to go.
“There is such a wide variety of opinions and that’s interesting to me, but I just try to drive a race car to the best of my ability.”
Joey Logano says he only knows what he’s read.
“Does it affect me,” Logano asked. “I don’t know. I’m sure there is some downstream trickle effect where it could but right now, I can’t affect it so I’m just going with the flow and will see what happens.”
Larson also praised the two teams for their conviction.
“It’s interesting to see two teams stand up to a huge corporation, right,” Larson said. “I would love to see our teams making more money because I think it would help the overall health of the sport so I give kudos to Front Row and 23XI Racing for doing this.”
Tyler Reddick drives for 23XI Racing and said he is proud of the leadership from Hamlin, Michael Jordan and Curtis Polk.
“I stand behind them, and stood behind their vision when I made the choice to come here, and I still feel the same way,” he said.
Reddick also has a front row seat for this process and says he recognizes the history being made right in front of his eyes, but largely tries to stay focused on his job.
“I stand there sometimes and watch it, but I also can’t stand in that moment too long because I have a job to do, right,” Reddick said. “I need to go back to being me, the driver of the 45, and trying to focus on winning races and a championship.”
Briscoe admitted that he is looking forward to the driver intros stage on Sunday because he thinks it will be a topic of conversation.
“I’m curious to hear all the gossip,” Briscoe said. “I think we all appreciate a little drama and theater and we have a little bit of that going on right now for sure.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.