The latest step in the legal battle between 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and NASCAR will be a preliminary hearing on Thursday regarding the teams’ latest injunction request to regain charter status. While the trial is not until December, many in the sport have a particular interest in Thursday’s hearing.
On Sunday night’s episode of “The Teardown,” Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic said people around NASCAR are “buzzing” over the hearing. While reporters will be present, some members of the teams might also attend to see if anything from the discovery process is revealed publicly for the first time.
Related: NASCAR Lined Up Buyers to Sell 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports Charters
“People are buzzing about that. I talked to a lot of people and they were like, ‘Thursday, man, Thursday.’ People in the industry with teams and the executive level. They might be showing up just to take it in… There is just this hype about the ruling, what the ruling could mean and just kind of, what possibly could come out in terms of what has been redacted, for example, what has come out in discovery.”
Jordan Bianchi on The Teardown regarding the ‘buzz’ for Thursday’s 23XI, FRM, NASCAR injunction hearing
The discovery process resulting from 23XI and FRM’s antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR has yielded plenty of information from both sides. However, most of the content has been kept out of the public eye due to redactions in legal documents.
Both sides have started releasing more information in recent weeks. Under a court order, NASCAR must notify all involved parties if it reaches an agreement to sell a charter previously held by 23XI or FRM. NASCAR recently filed notice with the court that it plans to “issue a charter” to another team for the 2026 season.
Related: Why NASCAR Says 23XI Racing, FRM are Suing Them
The charter would be one of the four originally used by 23XI Racing and FRM, not the one Stewart-Haas Racing sold last offseason. NASCAR considers the charters sold by SHR as “inactive,” while the four other charters 23XI and FRM used are “non-issued.”
In a response, per Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, the teams said that they’ll be out of business after the 2025 season if the charters they used earlier in the season are sold.
“This Court has already found that it is not economically viable to race as open teams on a long-term basis … and NASCAR did not challenge that finding on appeal.”
23RXI Racing and Front Row Motorsports on NASCAR planning to sell their charters
The identity of the team NASCAR intends to assign the charter to next season is redacted. Whether this will be revealed on Thursday remains to be seen, but the court could decide to prevent NASCAR from selling any of the four charters until the case is resolved.
Notably, 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin isn’t expecting Thursday to bring a decision on the teams’ injunction request. On Monday’s episode of “Actions Detrimental“, Hamlin said that a ruling will likely come next week, but he did say that an “entertaining” week is coming.
“No, that (ruling) probably won’t happen until next week. The hearing is this week. It will be a very entertaining week, stay tuned to your social channels.”
Denny Hamlin on Thursday’s injunction hearing for 23XI, FRM and NASCAR
While both parties have been encouraged to come to terms on a settlement, the latest developments suggest that’s not under serious consideration from either party. For now, 23XI will run as an open team with both Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace competing in the playoffs.
