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23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports got a victory over NASCAR in federal court on Wednesday.
Judge Kenneth Bell ruled in favor of the teams’ request for a preliminary injunction to race as chartered teams in 2025. Bell’s granting of the injunction in a North Carolina federal court means that the two teams can race with the benefits given to them of a chartered team and also allow them to complete the purchases of charters from Stewart-Haas Racing. NASCAR has the ability to appeal the decision.
The two teams asked for the injunction as they filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR in October over the sanctioning body’s charter agreement. The two were the only teams to not sign the new deal. The previous charter agreement — NASCAR’s version of a franchising agreement between itself and its teams — expired at the conclusion of the 2024 season.
“The Court hereby enters a limited preliminary injunction only for the duration of the 2025 NASCAR Cup season as follows: defendants and their agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and all persons in active concert or participation with Defendants, must allow Plaintiffs to each enter two race cars in all NASCAR Cup races under the 2025 Charter Agreement terms applicable to all charter teams, with the exception that the ‘release’ language in Section 10.3 of the 2025 Charter Agreement shall not be enforceable to the extent that it would release or bar Plaintiffs’ claims in this action,” the ruling states. “Further, NASCAR is preliminarily enjoined from refusing to approve Plaintiffs’ purchases of two Stewart-Haas Racing, LLC charters, which Plaintiffs will be entitled to use in all 2025 NASCAR Cup races on the same terms as other charter teams, again with the exception of the application of the release language to Plantiffs’ claims in this action; and a Case Management schedule will be set by the Court which, in the absence of a voluntary resolution of this dispute among the Parties, provides for a trial on Plaintiffs’ claims to be concluded in advance of the beginning of the 2026 NASCAR race season.”
Both 23XI and Front Row competed as two-car teams in 2024. 23XI, the team co-owned by Michael Jordan and NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin, fielded cars for Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, while Front Row had drivers Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland. With the closure of four-car Stewart Haas Racing at the end of the 2024 season, each team agreed to purchase a charter from SHR to expand to three cars and drivers in 2025.
Hamlin had a jubilant reaction on social media after the ruling.
Front Row is expected to field a third car for Zane Smith in 2025 as Noah Gragson has replaced McDowell. 23XI Racing has already announced that Riley Herbst would drive a third car for the team.
“We welcome today’s decision by Judge Bell granting a preliminary injunction in our favor,” the teams’ attorney Jeffrey Kessler said in a statement. “The court’s ruling allows 23XI and Front Row Motorsports to race existing cars as chartered teams in next year’s Cup Series. The decision also requires NASCAR to approve both teams’ purchases of a third charter from Stewart-Haas Racing and allow these cars to also race as chartered teams in the 2025 season. We are confident in the strength of our case and will continue to fight so that racing can thrive and become a more competitive and fair sport in ways that benefit teams, drivers, sponsors, and, most importantly, our fans.”
Charter teams receive a bigger share of purse money from NASCAR and the charters guarantee a car entry into every race on the Cup Series calendar. Both 23XI and FRM had previously been allowed to compete as open teams in 2025 had the injunction not been granted, though they each wouldn’t have been guaranteed three spots in the Daytona 500 if more than 40 cars attempted the race.
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