Last weekend in Kansas, 23XI Racing suffered a blow. Its team owner, Denny Hamlin, locked horns with its driver, Bubba Wallace, on the final laps of the playoff race. The door-to-door contact stole Wallace’s pace, and Hamlin could not win, relinquishing the trophy to Chase Elliott. This on-track display of fireworks is faintly reminiscent of 23XI’s off-track struggle, which is approaching a dire climax.

The NASCAR lawsuit is raging with no respite for Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s team. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have lost their charters and are currently racing as open teams. As the final courtroom date looms ahead on December 1, a NASCAR insider speculates about the crumbling future that 23XI faces.

A skeletal future for 23XI Racing?

Several teams have shuttered in the NASCAR Cup Series in the recent past. They include Michael Waltrip Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Chip Ganassi Racing, significant for the manner of their exit. Chip Ganassi accumulated 14 Cup race trophies and 20 Xfinity trophies since 2001. In 2021, CGR shut down, and Justin Marks’ newly formed Trackhouse Racing acquired all its assets. Marks interviewed all of CGR’s employees and considered the team’s two drivers, Ross Chastain and Kurt Busch, for his own team. Now, a repetition of Chip Ganassi’s exit seems to be on the cards for 23XI Racing.

Little optimistic signs float on the horizon for 23XI Racing in the NASCAR lawsuit. So journalist Bob Pockrass envisioned a Ganassi-like departure. 23XI’s assets, like Airspeed and racetrack equipment, may attract a potential buyer. Pockrass said in a ‘Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour’ episode, “They won’t have charters, right? So, how many teams would they want to operate if they wanted to operate? Or would they just sell the building, hopefully to someone who has the charter? And all the equipment and everything, I hope that they do something like what Trackhouse did with Ganassi several years ago.” 

This, unfortunately, could be the climax of the long-drawn-out battle between 23XI Racing and NASCAR. Although the Cup Series team is racing as an open team right now, there is a curious fact about its charter. According to Bob Pockrass, one charter may be more legitimate than the others. He said, “The one charter that they bought from Stewart-Haas is kind of looked at a little bit differently than the two charters that they had…(which) NASCAR believes that they forfeited. They didn’t sign the deal, so they’ve given those up. The ones that they bought from Stewart-Haas, who had originally signed the deal, seemed to be a little bit different.” This dispute may extend into 2026, as Pockrass reported.

Nevertheless, NASCAR is not ceasing its offensive against the suing teams. The recent move involved compiling comments from other team owners.

Watering down 23XI’s argument

Back in October 2024, Michael Jordan and Co.’s lawsuit had a focal aspect. That was NASCAR and the France family’s monopoly that suppresses competition and economic opportunities in stock car racing. In that regard, both 23XI and FRM recently sought federal judgment on the relevant market, trying to observe that they would not be able to race anywhere outside NASCAR. In response, however, the sanctioning body motioned for summary judgment in its litigation. It claimed that pretrial discovery has undermined core factors of the lawsuit, which involves criticizing the binding charters.

As part of the discovery, NASCAR included comments from other Cup Series team owners. They praised the charter system, which fuels the monopoly as according to Hamlin and Jordan. For instance, Rick Hendrick described the charter system as “critical to the stability of the NASCAR ecosystem,” including for teams and “the businesses that support us and NASCAR itself.” Roger Penske believes, “The Charter system has been beneficial because it delivered on the race teams’ goal of creating long-term equity value.” Then, even Joe Gibbs, the team owner of JGR for which Denny Hamlin drives, also claimed that charters preserve “the long-term viability of our incredible sport.”

Clearly, 23XI Racing has a rocky road ahead in the NASCAR lawsuit. If they lost it, then the Cup Series would lose a highly competent team yet again in recent years.