Did anyone win in the windstorm of court news?
Now that the dust has somewhat settled, it’s a great time to revisit the court hearings in which both 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were able to present evidence, along with NASCAR, in their cases against one another.
Aug. 28 marked a big day for the news cycle surrounding the case, as the teams and NASCAR both presented evidence that became public record once it was filed. That evidence was full of text chains and group chats that discussed both parties’ displeasure with each other at length.
It’s been no secret that the France family has been at the center of much of this case, and that Denny Hamlin, a co-owner of 23XI with NBA legend Michael Jordan, has his own distaste of the family. Those became extremely public during the hearing.
Jordan also said that he’s willing to go down with the ship on the courthouse steps once the hearing concluded.
“I look forward to going down with fire,” he said. “If I have to fight this to the end for the betterment of the sport, I will do that.”
Jordan also made sure to mention that a settlement is still on the table from the teams’ side, despite his press agent’s attempts to quell any questions from present media. Why is that important? Because to them, it communicates the fact that there’s only one side that’s still dragging this out, which is NASCAR. The teams are ready and willing to see this aired out in the public eye if NASCAR doesn’t cooperate, and that might be the worst case scenario of all for the France family.
What’s more, the judges warned the attorneys present to think about how a North Carolina jury might view this case differently than one in New York. Sure, they love NASCAR itself as the birthplace of the sport, but I would wager that they all know someone who works for one of these teams that NASCAR has been caught repeatedly trying to shaft.
If a settlement isn’t reached, this case will go to trial in December, and if you thought this dirty laundry was plentiful, the trial would make it look like a walk in the park. No matter who wins after the case, NASCAR will more than likely undergo changes the likes of which we’ve never seen in the sport, and I don’t know where to begin with the question of who wins then.
Was that the best Next Gen Daytona International Speedway race to date?
For two consecutive years now, the fall Daytona NASCAR Cup Series race has yielded exciting racing virtually from start to finish. Whether you liked the winner last year or not, the cars weren’t gridlocked and there was great race craft on display throughout.
If Ryan Blaney hadn’t snuck in a late-season win, we might be having a different conversation regarding the playoff picture similar to what happened last season, but thankfully, that’s not the case.
A surprising stat that many might not have gleaned from those closing laps is that Blaney was a whopping 13th-place car with two laps to go. His charge to the finish was one of the more impressive displays of restrictor plate racing I’ve seen in a while.
Everyone was on their game last weekend, in fact. Drivers moved around all throughout, and the field was shuffled over and over again. A four-wide finish to boot only added to the luster of the night, and a driver that just about everyone can get behind wound up winning.
For my money, if that’s not the best Next Gen race at Daytona, I don’t know what is.
Did Portland International Raceway deserve to lose its lone NASCAR date?
The short answer here is absolutely not.
I love Portland, Ore., as a city, and when you look at a map, it’s a crying shame that the plentiful amount of fans there don’t get to see this sport up close and personal even more.
Oval racing might not be the area’s bread and butter, but I’m here to tell you that doesn’t matter, because any racing is the Northwest’s bread and butter. Some of the biggest gearheads I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting have been from that area, and to know that track isn’t making a return on the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule in 2026 is upsetting.
It’s not like the races there have been atrocious to watch, either. I would understand the move a bit more if it was a track that didn’t provide much in the way of race craft, but that isn’t the case. Additionally, even though attendance numbers haven’t been made public for the races, I would wager that, per capita, Portland sells just as well if not better than most other tracks the series races, too.
Yet another year will go by, and another potential market will be alienated by NASCAR, which will undoubtedly return to a track that not many had in mind or wanted to go to in the first place, where fans in the area are just a two- to three-hour drive from around seven or eight races a season. It’s a shame, really.
Could Parker Kligerman drive for JRM in the future?
Twice now this season, Parker Kligerman has found victory lane behind the wheel of a racecar that wasn’t his own. The first go around in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Daytona didn’t count due to disqualification, and last weekend’s win behind the wheel of Connor Zilisch‘s Xfinity No. 88 as a relief driver didn’t quite count either.
Kligerman, though, has always been a wheelman. Just last year in Xfinity, he drove a car to relative success that didn’t have all that much business being where it finished more times than not. When he announced that he would only be running a part-time schedule in 2025, I’ll admit I was a bit sad.
He’s the kind of character that the sport needs: young, great with the camera in his face, but not too buttoned up. He has fun, and he’s good at what he does in the process. He’s the kind of driver that, if it was 2000, teams would be lining up to sign.
However, this is a different time, and that hasn’t happened just yet, but never say never. To jump back up a few headlines, part of the NASCAR charter fiasco is that it reportedly has buyers lining up for new charters, and one of the names that has always been rumored to be on the charter hunt is none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose car Kligerman just drove to victory lane.
If Earnhardt decides to go Cup racing and bump up a crew of Xfinity drivers, those seats will need to be filled. And since JR Motorsports is one of the few Xfinity teams that really doesn’t have to worry about sponsorship dollars, Kligerman might be the kind of signing it’s looking for to anchor an Xfinity lineup that’s always been held together by a veteran driver.
I’m not saying it’s going to happen. I would like to see it happen, that’s all.
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s OnSI Network, a contributor for TopSpeed.com, an AP Wire reporter, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host and master's student at Mississippi State University. Soon, Tanner will be pursuing a PhD. in Mass Media Studies. Tanner began working with Frontstretch as an Xfinity Series columnist in 2022.