23XI Racing earned global fame even before the team began dominating the Cup Series this season, and for a completely different reason. Michael Jordan’s involvement in the high-profile lawsuit against NASCAR was a massive topic for the media, which helped bring the sport back into the spotlight and drew attention to the team. As they continue to dominate the Cup field, President Steve Lauletta said the lawsuit ultimately led to even more exposure, and it has helped them decide which direction they want to take the team.

“What we did at the end of last year with the lawsuit, or as I call it, the off-track project that we had […] those things have added up to us at 23XI, I think, becoming more recognizable on and off the track, and we just need to keep that going for this next five years,” Lauletta said while speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Although Lauletta labeled the lawsuit as an ‘off-track project,’ it was far more than that.

The lawsuit brought by team owners, including Michael Jordan, charged NASCAR with anticompetitive practices and led to a settlement that changed the structure of stock car racing. After over a week of trials, the parties involved decided to settle. NASCAR announced quite a few changes, including making the Charters ‘evergreen,’ which loosely translates to making them permanent.

This was a huge moment for all the teams, and 23XI Racing led the entire movement with Front Row Motorsports. Although backed by the ownership of both Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, they were still a relatively new team on the field at the time, and such a high-stakes lawsuit could have gone either way for them. That’s why Steve Lauletta also spoke about what they need to do to become the brand they envision five years down the line.

“In those 5 years, to be the brand we want to be, it is going to be more wins. It is going to be battling for championships, and so far for this year, I feel like we’re in a really good spot,” he added, and he’s right.

23XI’s driver has managed to hold on to the lead

A new wave of domination kicked off with the settlement of the lawsuit. Tyler Reddick, who had struggled throughout the 2025 season, managed to clinch five race wins right at the start of the season and take the lead in the points table.

Toyota managed to capitalize on Chevrolet’s early slump, which helped the OEM to dominate. In fact, three of the top five drivers in the points table pilot the Camry. But for 23XI Racing, the development also lies in the Airspeed race shop, which was inaugurated just a little over two years ago. The state-of-the-art facilities seemed to have helped the team, giving them the massive boost they needed to kick off this domination.

Although Reddick managed to get hold of a strong position in the points table early in the season. While Denny Hamlin has managed to close the gap in recent races, clinching four victories and sits just eight points behind Reddick with 708 points.

While that lawsuit’s settlement might not have been directly related to the performance surge 23XI Racing is enjoying currently, it seems to have given the team enough confidence to hold on to that top spot with the #45 operation for 17 straight races. It would be interesting to see whether Reddick can hold onto that position, achieving the first milestone in the team’s blueprint.