NASCAR insider reveals 23XI and FRM likely to become open teams before the sport shifts to the Chicago Street race

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have been involved in an ongoing legal dispute with NASCAR and CEO Jim France since October 2024, after both teams refused to sign the new charter agreement, citing alleged monopolistic practices. Despite months of legal back-and-forth, a recent claim from a NASCAR insider suggests that as the Cup Series heads to the 2025 Chicago Street Race, both 23XI and FRM could be forced to compete as open teams without guaranteed starting spots.

Both teams suffered a legal setback on Thursday when a three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously vacated a previously granted preliminary injunction. The injunction, issued earlier by a District Court Judge, had allowed both teams to retain their charters amid the ongoing antitrust lawsuit. However, following NASCAR’s appeal, the appellate court reversed the decision, leaving the charter status of 23XI Racing and FRM uncertain.

In a recent episode of Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour podcast, renowned NASCAR journalist Bob Pockrass claimed that both teams could reportedly run as open entries as soon as Atlanta.

"23XI and Front Row Motorsports could be racing as open teams as early as Atlanta. Not sure that it will come that early, but remember back in December, the teams were like 'Hey, there's a clause in the charter agreement that says we won't sue NASCAR.'" Pockrass said [33:00 onwards]

"So they asked the judge to force NASCAR to let them sign the charter agreement, but waive that clause that they won't sue because they want to obviously continue with the lawsuit. The US Court of Appeals last week said there's no basis in antitrust law to say that this clause is illegal," he added

Running as open entries could financially strain both 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, impacting their operations and overall competitiveness. Without charters, the teams would lose out on revenue-sharing benefits and other resources allocated to chartered teams.

Additionally, they would no longer be guaranteed starting spots in each race. Instead, they’d have to qualify for every event on speed, putting added pressure on both teams.

---

Denny Hamlin clears the air on NASCAR's big victory over 23XI Racing in charter feud

23XI Racing's co-owner and active Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin recently shared his thoughts on NASCAR's big win in the Court of Appeals. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver shared that this was just one of many 'little battles' that have taken place between both parties since October last year.

In an episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, the three-time Daytona 500 winner said:

"This is just part of the certain little battles that happened throughout the litigation. It does not have anything to do with the actual lawsuit itself. This was just essentially, we asked the judge to give us an injunction to allow us to race chartered as we go through this. He gave us the injunction based off of the facts and then we had NASCAR appealed it took it to the appeals panel and they overruled that initial judge." [50:10]

Meanwhile, Hamlin also secured his third victory this season at Michigan, moving up to P3 in the driver standings.