Just before championship conversations swallowed the NASCAR world at Phoenix Raceway, one of the first major rulings came in the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR.
On Friday, Nov. 8, U.S. District Court Judge Frank Whitney denied the injunction, ruling that the teams “have not met their burden required for a preliminary injunction.” The ruling did become a topic of conversation for Denny Hamlin in his media availability the following day.
Here are some of the words – and steps – exchanged in the week since.
- During Hamlin’s media availability on Saturday, Nov. 9, NBC Sports’ Dustin Long asked if Hamlin was “confident” 23XI will race at the Clash or the Daytona 500. Hamlin responded, “I think it’s all TBD. There’s certain agreements that we’re going to have to navigate, so I hope so.”
- “We were obviously pleased with the ruling that the judge sees merits in the case,” Hamlin also said. “He’s going to move forward to expedite it, expedite the discovery side of it, which is a reverse from what he had before. … Obviously he understands the complexity of it, and obviously understands that the situation is fluid and we obviously could see some pretty bad harm coming up.”
- The teams initially stated that they planned to run the 2025 season no matter what, but there is some concern as to whether or not teams can still run as open cars while bringing litigation against NASCAR.
- Frontstretch’s Stephen Stumpf asked Bubba Wallace if things would proceed as normal by the time Daytona rolls around. “That’s what I’ve been told,” Wallace replied. “Honestly, I’m not on social [media], so the updates that you’re saying to me right now is new news to me, so we’ll keep on racing, as long as they call me back.”
- “It’s very hard to not feel a slight bit of uncertainty,” said Todd Gilliland, who is slated to become the team veteran at Front Row Motorsports in 2025. “From our team and all that, it’s always been the same message to us, is that we’re going to keep pushing forward, and just continue to do your job.”
- While that occurred before Sunday’s (Nov. 10) championship race, 23XI and FRM filed an appeal to the preliminary injunction denial earlier this week, on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
- The appeal is set for the U.S. Court of Appeals (Fourth Circuit), and Bob Pockrass reported that 23XI and FRM requested on Nov. 14 that the oral arguments to be expedited. If this happens, they would take place during the next scheduled session for hearings, which would be between Dec. 10 and Dec. 13.
- The December date is important because the Fourth Circuit’s next session wouldn’t take place until Jan. 28, 2025, just a few days before the Clash at Bowman-Gray Stadium.
- From the filing: “Irreparable harm has already begun because Appellants cannot assure sponsors, drivers and fans that they will be able to compete as chartered teams in 2025 – a condition that puts those critical relationships with sponsors, drivers and fans at immediate risk.”
- The filing also adds the two teams “either risk releasing their antitrust rights in this action or be out of business from competing as premier stock car racing teams.”
- NASCAR has opposed this request, claiming the “standard briefing schedule is reasonable and appropriate.” Pockrass reports the earliest the appeal could be heard without expedition is March 18.
Caleb began sports writing in 2023 with The Liberty Champion, where he officially covered his first NASCAR race at Richmond in the spring. While there, Caleb met some of the guys from Frontstretch, and he joined the video editing team after graduating from Liberty University with degrees in Strategic Communications and Sports Journalism. Caleb currently work full-time as a Multi-Media Journalist with LEX 18 News in Lexington, Kentucky and contributes to Frontstretch with writing and video editing. He's also behind-the-scenes or on camera for the Happy Hour Podcast, live every Tuesday night at 7:30!