On a relatively slow news day (sarcasm) on June 5, it was announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals vacated a previously granted injunction for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
In the most basic terms I can possibly explain without treading into legalese, this means that 23XI and FRM, who didn’t sign the new NASCAR Cup Series charter agreement last season, may have to compete as open teams after a judge initially granted them the injunction to let them race as chartered entries.
The teams have 14 days to appeal the ruling, but as it stands, all six of 23XI and FRM’s teams — which include Bubba Wallace, Riley Herbst and Tyler Reddick for 23XI, and Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith for FRM — will finish the season as open teams.
On the surface, this really isn’t a huge deal for the teams; while yes, a charter does guarantee you entry into every race regardless of how bad you are in qualifying, the 2025 Daytona 500 is the only race this season to have more than 40 cars attempt a single race. From an entry list standpoint, the teams should have nothing to worry about.
The money aspect, however? That might become an issue.
It’s no secret that open teams get paid pennies on the dollar compared to chartered teams. Both 23XI and FRM have high-dollar drivers and sponsorships, and that lack of purse money that they will have once shared with the other chartered teams will most certainly hurt the teams in the long run.
The big question around the financial aspect will be whether or not sponsors and/or drivers leave the team as a result. Wallace and Reddick both have opt-out options in the event they end up driving open cars, a reality that will be faced sooner rather than later. With no quality rides becoming available in the Cup Series in the foreseeable future, it’s highly unlikely that the two of them will leave the team even if the opportunity presents itself. The same goes for Herbst, should he have a similar contract.
But what about Corey Heim? The 23XI development driver seems content where he is, but he’s a clear-cut candidate for a Cup ride, and the future of his team seems to be more up in the air than ever. His loyalty to 23XI — and more importantly, Toyota — is borderline crazy. If I’m a team owner, I’m taking advantage of this situation and poaching him before he spends yet another season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in favor of staying with Toyota.
While 23XI and FRM will continue to fight with NASCAR in court, it’s worth noting that six charters are suddenly going to become available. This isn’t just one or two charters like we’re used to seeing. This is one-sixth of the inventory of charters in existence.
So what does NASCAR do with them?
Well, having six charters suddenly open up a couple of avenues. RFK Racing, which is currently leasing a charter from Rick Ware Racing, could acquire one of the charters outright and not have to rely on the fallout of the lawsuit between RWR and Legacy Motor Club to figure out its next steps with regards to a charter for 2026 and beyond.
Speaking of Legacy, does it drop its lawsuit against RWR if it can acquire one of the charters available? Why bother suing for a third charter if you can get one an easier way? That would allow RWR to retain both its charters and either sell one of them or find another driver to accompany Cody Ware full-time in 2026.
The rest of the current teams that have less than three charters don‘t seem to be too interested in acquiring one, so what becomes of the charters if nobody buys?
Well, remember that little footnote in the charter agreement? What was it again? Oh yeah, that little detail that NASCAR could field its own racecar if it chose?
In a matter of convenient timing, there were reports last week from The Athletic that NASCAR CEO Jim France (who also owns Action Express Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship) tried to broker a deal with Spire Motorsports to field a fourth Cup entry for Jack Aitken at Sonoma Raceway. Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson clarified on the Door Bumper Clear podcast that the deal was nothing more than France putting up the funding for Aitken to run a Spire-prepared car, and that there was never talk of NASCAR fielding the car itself. Basically, it would’ve been no different than buying a ride, instead of fielding a team itself.
If six charters remain available come 2026, who’s to say France doesn’t take Action Express Racing to NASCAR with either one full-time driver or a rotation of its IMSA drivers between Aitken, Earl Bamber (who has some form of NASCAR experience) and/or Frederik Vesti — or anyone else Action Express would want to drive?
Of course, maybe the appeal works out and 23XI and FRM regain their charters, or through one avenue or another they retain their charters at a later time and nothing truly changes.
In general, there’s no reason to overreact to the court ruling just yet. Yes, if there is no appeal or an unsuccessful appeal, there will be six full-time teams running charter-less for the rest of 2025. But what needs to happen is an outcome to the overall lawsuit. Until we know what the outcome of the lawsuit truly is, whenever that may be, it’s not worth jumping to possible conclusions that may never become reality.
The reality of the present is that 23XI and FRM have an opportunity to appeal, and regardless of outcome, it’ll be a huge talking point for the remainder of the 2025 season.
The best thing that Wallace, Reddick, Herbst, Gragson, Gilliland and Smith can do is remain focused on their seasons. Two of them (Wallace and Reddick) are comfortably in the playoffs, while none of the six have won this season sans Wallace’s qualifying duel victory at Daytona International Speedway. It’s hard to stay the course with such a major distraction, but it feels like the six of them need to do so to avoid tanking their seasons.
Meanwhile the court battle rages on, and who knows when it’ll come to an end. At this point, it seems like the 2025-26 offseason seems a little bit like wishful thinking.
This author cannot be the only one who yearns for the day we can worry about the racing on the track and not any legal battles off of it.
You might be the only one losing sleep about that team and lawsuit. I could care less about Hamlin and look how MJ got rid of his high dollar NBA players. The 3rd owner in 23xi is the brains behind everything MJ has achieved. He negotiated all the contracts. Smart man.
What makes this impossible to comment on intelligently is that no one will say what the teams actually signed in the 2025 contract agreement. There are only bits and pieces that are allowed out and that only because it will become evident: like the rule that says teams can only own 3 charters. But the rest is a very guarded secret, which even my best friends involved in the sport can’t tell me. I know more about the previous than the current. Does the average fan ‘need to know’? Likely not, but as Nascar believes fans want to know about the people in the sport, several of us are interested in the business and engineering of the sport…and they are the ones that are gravitating toward Formula 1. I can normally watch all the major races, but when push comes to shove I pick others over Nascar. The are simply more open about the areas I have interest in. Apparently the 18 to 49 demographic agrees.
How Nascar treats these 2 teams if they win this court fight will determine whether I retain any interest in Nascar. I am not a fan of either team involved, but if they charge the teams millions to get their charters back, it would show a level of control that would scare any new money, and some of the old money I am told, that keeps this sport perceived by many as the pinnacle of motor sports.