Denny Hamlin has revealed that he and Michael Jordan’s NASCAR team almost had a very different name to 23XI Racing before the pair have taken NASCAR to court

Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan are currently locked in a legal dispute with NASCAR to retain the charter status of their team, 23XI Racing. But it has now emerged their team could have had a very different name.

Their lawsuit against the racing circuit suffered a setback this week when a federal court denied their temporary injunction, casting doubt on the charter status of 23XI Racing for the remainder of the year. The team initially sued NASCAR for claiming an excessive share of the earnings, with their lawyers labeling NASCAR as “monopolistic bullies”.

Drivers Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick have both been in agreement responding to the situation publicly, while Hamlin addressed his exodus fears last week before winning in Michigan and creating an awkward situation with Jordan and his legal team in the aftermath.

READ MORE: Denny Hamlin delivers candid Carson Hocevar verdict before making bold NASCAR predictionREAD MORE: Bubba Wallace turns to $220 billion backer for NASCAR reward on private jet

Hamlin and Jordan teamed up to establish 23XI Racing in 2020. In his latest ‘Actions Detrimental’ podcast, Hamlin disclosed that the team almost had a completely different name.

The duo eventually settled on 23XI, with 23 being a tribute to Jordan’s iconic number and 11 referencing the No. 11 Toyota Camry that Hamlin drives (currently for Joe Gibbs Racing).

“We were doing renderings and all this stuff, but you know, on all the gear like it was 6XI,” Hamlin added. “6XI was our team name for a while, but I just, I was like, eh, let’s change. Let’s rethink.”.

The plan was to use the number six to reference Jordan’s total NBA Championships before eventually going for a different approach. While they settled on a name and have had success on track, the situation they are facing remains uncertain.

“We are committed to running this season as an open team if required, even before the injunction decision,” Hamlin declared, even after a federal appellate panel ruled in favor of NASCAR.

“We are disappointed by today’s ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and are reviewing the decision to determine our next steps,” expressed Jeffery Kessler, attorney for 23XI and Front Row Motorsports, aligning with 23XI.

“This ruling is based on a very narrow consideration of whether a release of claims in the charter agreements is anti-competitive and does not impact our chances of winning at trial scheduled for Dec. 1.

In an earlier segment of the podcast, Hamlin talked about clinching the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday, marking his third win in the 2025 Cup Series season. He’s currently trailing behind Kyle Larson, who leads the standings.

Daniel Suarez believes the NASCAR Cup Series debut in Mexico City will open a “whole new world of opportunities” in regards to driver sponsorships — with one multibillionaire already getting involved in the inaugural race.

This weekend, NASCAR will travel to Mexico City for the first Cup Series points race held outside the United States since 1958. Suarez — the sole Mexican-born driver to ever win a NASCAR national series event — is relishing the opportunity to race in front of his home crowd.

For the historic race, Suarez has secured a special sponsorship deal with Telcel, a Mexican wireless telecommunications company. The business is a subsidiary of America Movil, whose owner Carlos Slim Helu ranks as one of the richest people in the world with a net worth of approximately $93.8 billion.

“For many years, I never had a sponsor deal with a company from Mexico because I wasn’t racing there,” Suarez explained. “So right now that we’re going to be having an event down there, it opens a whole new world of opportunities and that’s great, not just … obviously for me, but for the entire sport.”

Suarez has struggled mightily this year, as the No. 99 Chevrolet driver sits 28th in the points standings entering Sunday’s race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Despite the growing pressure to perform and replicate his success from a season prior, he asserted that the heightened expectations are nothing new to him.

“It’s not the first time that I’ve been in this position,” Suarez said. “Definitely the first time with the Mexico race, but it’s not the first time that I’ve been in the position that we have to win or in the position that we have a contract negotiation in the middle [of the season].

“It’s definitely a distraction. I won’t sit here and tell you that it doesn’t really matter. I’m trying to be as smart as possible and to put all this stuff on the side and just do my thing on the track.”

Time is of the essence for Suarez to secure a Cup Series victory and punch his ticket to the playoffs — especially given the fact that he does not have a contract locked in for the 2026 campaign.

DON’T MISS:

Regardless, Suarez insisted that he wouldn’t let the outside noise take away from this special race weekend in his home country. “The Mexico race is something that I’ve been hoping and waiting on for many, many years, and I’m not going to let anything else from outside take that week and that moment from myself,” he said.

“We have to just continue to put one foot in front of the other and continue to move forward. I think that in Trackhouse, we have found some decent speed in the last few weeks, so that’s promising, and hopefully we can continue to move in that direction.”

NASCAR star Chase Elliott will pilot a new look No. 9 car later this month for the Cup Series Saturday night race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with the Hendrick Motorsports driver showing his class to the tune of half a million dollars.

The 2020 Cup Series champion, who recently apologized to the state of Michigan and made a very telling comment before being told “enough is enough” by his frustrated fans after the FireKeepers 400,is set to continue his partnership with NAPA and Hendrick Motorsports to collaborate with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta via his foundation for the ninth edition of its “DESI9N TO DRIVE”.

Launched in 2017, the program, which has been supported by the Chase Elliott Foundation, has raised and donated nearly $500,000 to ‘Children’s’ over the first eight years since its inception.

Come June 28th, Elliott’s Chevrolet and uniform will feature a design from a pediatric cancer patient at ‘Children’s’ with fans also being given the opportunity to win the 29-year-old’s gear from the race via an online sweepstake.

They will also have the opportunity to have a meet-and-greet experience with Elliott with all donations made via the sweepstakes fundraiser benefiting the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of ‘Children’s’, which opened last fall on a new hospital campus.

Sign up to our NASCAR newsletter here.

“Every year, the DESI9N TO DRIVE program reminds me why I love what I do,” said Elliott in a Hendrick Motorsports statement.

“These kids pour their hearts into their artwork, and getting to meet them and see their creativity up close is incredibly inspiring. Partnering with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and NAPA at my home track always makes this one of the most meaningful weekends of the season.”

Elliott also confirmed his new scheme for later this month was created by 11-year-old cancer patient Rhealynn Mills. Posting on X, Elliott wrote: “#Desi9nToDrive is back for year No. 9 at Atlanta on June 28th! My @NAPARacing Chevy and @alpinestars race uniform features a Dream Big-themed design by 11-year-old cancer patient Rhealynn Mills!”

The 11-year-old was diagnosed with Metastatic Osteosarcoma after picking up a softball injury back in October 2022, which led to Mills needing 19 surgeries on her right leg, which was ultimately amputated.

DON’T MISS…

She now hopes to return to the softball field now she has been fitted with a prosthetic leg.

Emily Schneider, NAPA’s Senior Director of Marketing added: “It’s a privilege to once again team up with Chase and his foundation to support the incredible work being done at Children’s.

“We’re excited to unveil the inspiring designs on the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet and are proud to play a part in driving awareness and support through this year’s sweepstakes.”

Travis Carter passed away on Tuesday, June 10, following a brief stay in hospice. Carter was 75 years old.

Carter had an exceptional career in the NASCAR Cup Series, which lasted more than 30 years. Throughout his tenure, the once aspiring race car driver served in a multitude of roles, including pit crew member, crew chief, and team owner.

As a crew chief, Carter reached the top of the mountain twice in the NASCAR Cup Series.

In 1973, the then 24-year-old Carter was selected by the DeWitt Racing team to serve as the crew chief for Benny Parsons. What resulted from that hire was one of the most consistent seasons in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series for a driver.

While Parsons won just one race that season, which came at Bristol in July, an impressive string of consistent finishes, including 15 top-fives and 21 top-10s through the 28-race season, allowed Parsons to overcome seven DNFs to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Carter would spend three seasons as the crew chief for Parsons, and together, the duo also won the 1975 Daytona 500.

After a fourth-place finish in the championship standings with Bobby Allison in 1976 and a part-time effort with Dave Marcis in 1977, Carter split crew chief duties for Cale Yarborough’s No. 11 Junior Johnson & Associates race team with Tim Brewer in 1978.

Carter would collect his second NASCAR Cup Series championship during that 1978 season, which marked the third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship for Yarborough, which stood as an all-time record until Jimmie Johnson’s five-consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship streak from 2006 to 2010.

In all, Carter won more than 30 races as a crew chief to go along with his two championships.

Late in the 1990 season, Carter would form his own racing team, Travis Carter Enterprises. Over 13 years as a NASCAR Cup Series team owner, Carter’s race cars nearly started 500 races (493), and while he didn’t have any wins to show for his efforts as a team owner, Carter’s No. 23 team came dangerously close to victory lane on several occasions with Jimmy Spencer behind the wheel in the 1990s.

Carter’s team faced an uncertain future after Kmart, his team’s primary sponsor, filed for bankruptcy early in the 2002 season. The 2003 NASCAR Cup Series season would mark the final season for Travis Carter Enterprises.

The race team recorded 17 top-five finishes, 58 top-10s, and six poles. Spencer finished 14th in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings in 1998, which was the best-ever point standings finish for any driver under the Travis Carter Enterprises banner.

The legendary crew chief and longtime successful team owner is survived by his wife Linda, son Matt, daughter Kim, and grandchildren Levi, Charlie, and Emma.

This past weekend in Bristol, Tennessee, we were reminded once again that drag racing isn’t just a technical sport – it’s an emotional one.

Following Greg Anderson’s milestone win at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, a bit of drama erupted between the KB Titan Racing camp and their longtime rivals at Elite Motorsports. Words were exchanged. Tempers flared. A few racers and NHRA officials had to step in to keep it from escalating further.

Do we need to see fistfights on the starting line? Of course not. That’s not what I’m advocating for here.

But as a community, we’ve got to get off our high horse.

The knee-jerk reaction is to label this stuff as unsportsmanlike, or to worry about how it “looks” to fans or sponsors. But here’s the truth: we need more people in drag racing who care so deeply about what happens on that racetrack that it boils over from time to time.

I’ve said this for years – decades even: if you expect fans to care, then show them that you care. Passion is the price of admission in professional motorsports. If a driver can shrug off a loss or act like it doesn’t matter, why should anyone in the stands or at home watching on television or a livestream give a damn?

That blow-up in Bristol wasn’t a blemish. It was proof that the stakes are high again in Pro Stock.

Look, there’s been a noticeable shift over the last couple years. For a while, things got stale. The storylines were drying up. But then Greg Anderson and KB Titan Racing came storming back into the conversation over the course of the last couple years, and suddenly the top of the food chain was up for grabs again.

Elite Motorsports had been dominant for years, and rightfully so. But rivalries are born out of competition, not cooperation. Now, week in and week out, it’s a clash of titans – and that’s when things start to get interesting. That’s when tensions rise, when emotions peak, and when passion spills over. And honestly? That’s when fans start paying closer attention.

This isn’t unique to drag racing. Go back to the 1979 Daytona 500 – the race that put NASCAR on the map. Sure, Richard Petty won the thing, but what got the country talking was the infield brawl between Cale Yarborough and the Allison brothers. That moment, broadcast live on national TV during a snowstorm, made NASCAR.

Why? Because people saw raw, unfiltered emotion. They saw that it mattered.

Now, I’m not saying we should encourage fights. That’s not what this is about. What I am saying is that drag racing needs to stop pretending that emotion is a liability. It’s not. It’s an asset. It’s the foundation of every great story we’ve ever told in this sport. Every championship. Every comeback. Every upset.

Emotion is what connects the people in the grandstands to the people in the fire suits.

We’re in a time where fans crave authenticity more than polish. They don’t want canned interviews and sponsor-safe soundbites. They want the truth. They want to know that the men and women behind the wheel are human beings with skin in the game.

So when something like Bristol happens, I don’t cringe. I lean in. Because those moments, while maybe uncomfortable, are real. They’re proof that Pro Stock is alive and well – and that the people inside the ropes are racing with their hearts on fire.

Sportsmanship isn’t about being emotionless. It’s not about smiling while someone stomps your ass into the pavement. It’s about showing up, racing hard, and yes, sometimes letting your emotions out. The key is what happens next. Do you shake hands later? Do you come back and race just as hard next time? That’s sportsmanship.

Humans are going to human. That’s just how it works. We shouldn’t be surprised when competitors compete with emotion. We should expect it. Frankly, we should demand it.

So let’s stop acting like drama is always a bad thing. Let’s stop rushing to throw cold water on the fire every time it sparks up. Because in a sport built on the back of passion and intensity, a little heat between teams might just be exactly what we need to keep this thing burning bright.

This story was originally published on June 11, 2025.

Louis Foster’s No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda will feature a new primary sponsor for this weekend’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 and all of the races across the remaining events on the NTT IndyCar Series calendar.

“We’re excited to welcome Droplight into the RLL family,” said Bobby Rahal, who co-owns RLL with David Letterman and Mike Lanigan. “Their team brings a rare combination of energy, vision, and execution that aligns perfectly with where we want to take this program. This isn’t just a sponsorship –it’s a platform for growth.”

According to RLL, “Droplight’s ecosystem includes investments and partnerships across entertainment, technology, media, and consumer brands. With this RLL partnership, the venture studio sees a unique opportunity to honor the legacy of motorsports excellence while helping shape its future.”

The strategic partnership runs through the end of the season

“The names Rahal, Letterman, and Lanigan stand for more than racing – they represent a legacy of discipline, vision, and leadership that has shaped generations of talent and performance,” said Droplight CEO Joseph Anderson. “We’re honored to support Louis Foster and the No. 45 team, and to play a role in building on that foundation. This is more than a partnership – it’s the next chapter in an ecosystem of innovation and impact.”