Having exhausted nearly every legal option to retain their charters after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals revoked a previous preliminary injunction protecting it, both 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have taken a new course forward.

23XI and FRM have filed a motion for another temporary restraining order (TRO) and a new preliminary injunction that would allow them to keep their charters for the remainder of the 2025 season. The trial date for the lawsuit does not take place until December 1st of this year.

New evidence?

Todd Gilliland, Front Row Motorsports Ford

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

The teams cite new evidence as their reasoning for this motion, and allege that NASCAR plans to “immediately move to sell or issue Plaintiffs’ charters to other entities—putting Plaintiffs in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.” The teams claim they received a letter from NASCAR, indicating that this is indeed the intention of the sanctioning body. 

NASCAR has quickly responded, calling the motion “improper” and requesting a decision from the courts by Wednesday on the TRO.

23XI and FRM have three charters each, and with only 36 charters, they are highly sought after. Teams are willing to pay tens of millions of dollars for just one charter, as recent sales of showcased. NASCAR also stated that 23XI and FRM are refusing to return the money they’ve earned under the 2025 Charter Agreement so far, stating in a Monday filing: “The Plaintiffs have informed NASCAR they do not intend on returning the money irrespective of the Fourth Circuit’s decision.”

NASCAR’s official statement

23XI Racing logo

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

NASCAR released a full statement on the situation publicly, claiming they have reached out in attempts to end this legal battle before it goes to trial, but 23XI and FRM are not receptive to it.

“It is unfortunate that instead of respecting the clear rulings of the Fourth Circuit, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are now burdening the District Court with a third motion for another unnecessary and inappropriate preliminary injunction.

“As both the Fourth Circuit and the District Court suggested, NASCAR has made multiple requests to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to present a proposal to resolve this litigation. We have yet to receive a proposal from 23XI or Front Row, as they have instead preferred to continue their damaging and distracting lawsuit. We will defend NASCAR’s integrity from this baseless lawsuit forced upon the sport that threatens to divide the stakeholders committed to serving race fans everywhere. We remain focused on collaborating with the 13 race teams that signed the 2025 charter agreements and share our mutual goal of delivering the best racing in the world each week, including this weekend in Dover.”

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — ARCA Menards Series winner Jake Finch is set to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut with Hendrick Motorsports.

Hendrick Motorsports named Finch to their No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro for the July 19 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Dover Motor Speedway.

Dover is where Finch earned his first ARCA-sanctioned win in 2023 in the East series. In 2024, he earned a win in the main ARCA series at Talladega Superspeedway.

Finch has just one start so far this season – in the April ARCA Menards Series East race at Rockingham Speedway.

Jake Finch is the son of James Finch, the owner of Phoenix Racing. Up until its closure in 2013, Phoenix Racing worked closely with Hendrick Motorsports. In 2009, they allowed one of their developmental drivers at the time to get a big opportunity. Brad Keselowski claimed his and Phoenix Racing’s first NASCAR Cup Series victory in a wild finish at Talladega in April 2009. The future NASCAR Cup Series champion went on to win much more but the team never won again.

Jake Finch will be the second driver to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut since the 2022 revival of Hendrick Motorsports’ program in the series.

In his series debut in March at Martinsville Speedway, Corey Day finished 21st after starting eighth at Martinsville. Day finished 16th after starting 33rd at Texas, 11th after starting 21st at Nashville Superspeedway and 24th after starting 14th at Sonoma.

Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.

A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.

Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick’s final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen’s stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers’ stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.

Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed for a new preliminary injunction Monday and a restraining order in an effort to retain their charters.

The two teams are scheduled to lose their charters on Wednesday. This came after a three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit of Appeals vacated the preliminary injunction in June that was granted to them for the 2025 season. A request from the teams for a rehearing on the matter was denied earlier this month.

In the new filing, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports stated that NASCAR “has signaled its intention to immediately move to sell or issue Plaintiffs’ charters to other entities – putting Plaintiffs in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.”

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were the only two teams who did not sign the new charter agreement. A joint antitrust lawsuit was filed against NASCAR on Oct. 2. NASCAR has since filed a counterclaim against the teams.

A trial date is set for December.

The loss of a charter would remove guaranteed entry into NASCAR Cup Series events. Open teams also earn less of the prize money.

“It is unfortunate that instead of respecting the clear rulings of the Fourth Circuit, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are now burdening the District Court with a third motion for another unnecessary and inappropriate preliminary injunction,” NASCAR said in a statement. “As both the Fourth Circuit and the District Court suggested, NASCAR has made multiple requests to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to present a proposal to resolve this litigation. We have yet to receive a proposal from 23XI or Front Row, as they have instead preferred to continue their damaging and distracting lawsuit.

“We will defend NASCAR’s integrity from this baseless lawsuit forced upon the sport that threatens to divide the stakeholders committed to serving race fans everywhere. We remain focused on collaborating with the 13 race teams that signed the 2025 charter agreements and share our mutual goal of delivering the best racing in the world each week, including this weekend in Dover.”

In 2024, Finch claimed the Show Me the Money Series championship at Montgomery Motor Speedway, piloting the famed No. 18 for Ronnie Sanders Racing. He has also won the last two runnings of the Baby Rattler 125 at South Alabama Speedway.

Finch is the son of James Finch, the owner of Phoenix Racing which formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. In 2009, Brad Keselowski earned the team’s lone Cup Series victory at Talladega.

SONOMA, Calif. — NASCAR said the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 team did no wrong after an incident during Sunday’s Cup Series race in which driver Ty Gibbs passed through the RFK Racing No. 6 team’s pit box during a stop and clipped a tire being held by the team’s tire carrier.

The pit crews for Gibbs and Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 car, then had a minor altercation — which included pushing and shoving — following a sequence of pit stops on Lap 52 of the race at Sonoma Raceway.

The disagreement stemmed from how Gibbs pulled into his stall, which was one spot beyond Keselowski’s. As Gibbs is allowed to do under NASCAR rules, he partially drove through Keselowski’s stall to get into his own, but as he did, he made contact with the tire in the hands of Keselowski team member Telvin McClurkin, who was over the pit wall preparing to service Keselowski’s car.

You be the judge pic.twitter.com/JYiUYvRp9e

— RFK Racing (@RFKracing) July 13, 2025

“I pull in my (pit) box, and by the rules, the first-place car that’s going in, it’s my right of way,” Gibbs told The Athletic. “And that’s the thing with pit crew guys who like to be out there, that’s on them. It’s my right of way. They had an incident that slowed their stop down, so that sucks for them.”

Although McClurkin never lost control of the tire, he did twist his wrist. After completing the pit stop, he walked down to Gibbs’ stall and confronted members of the No. 54 team, setting off a brief skirmish between the two teams. NASCAR officials quickly broke up the scrum.

McClurkin declined comment about the incident after the race but did say his wrist was “doing fine.”

“I talked to NASCAR and, obviously, no rules were broken,” RFK competition director Josh Sell said. “Would we have liked to have seen it play out differently? Yeah, absolutely, and that’s really all there is to it.”

An incident on the track and a separate one on pit road.@SteveLetarte and the TNT crew take a closer look. pic.twitter.com/lyWsYKExfW

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 13, 2025

After reviewing the incident, NASCAR officials determined that Gibbs did nothing wrong and that the No. 6 team should’ve given Gibbs more room to enter his own pit stall. NASCAR considers the incident closed, though a NASCAR spokesperson said officials would review this week the skirmish between the two teams to see if any penalties would be assessed.

“The rule is the rule, and the 54 (car) in that instance has the right of way, and the pit crew members just have to be aware enough to know that and not run into traffic unless you have to,” JGR competition director Chris Gabehart said. “(McClurkin) has the right to be standing out there, but the 54 has got to get in his box first. And it’s one of those tough rules. I don’t really fault anybody on it. It just takes a lot of give-and-take in that situation. And unfortunately, they got into him.”

Incidents between pit crews are a rarity in NASCAR, though occasionally there are flare-ups in a high-pressure environment where teams are racing to get their driver on and off pit road as quickly as possible. This is in addition to the danger created by five-member pit crews jumping over the wall as cars pass by — pit road speed at Sonoma is 40 mph — which only heightens emotions when there is a perceived safety risk.

“Scrapping, man,” Gabehart said. “Everybody’s excited. That’s racing and part of it.”

(Photo of Ty Gibbs in Sunday’s race: Chris Williams / Sonoma Raceway / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The two race teams suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction Monday to be recognized as chartered organizations for the remainder of 2025.

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are locked in a lengthy legal battle over the charter system, which is the equivalent of the franchise model in other sports. 23XI, owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, last September rejected NASCAR’s final proposal on extensions and instead filed an antitrust suit.

The case is winding its way through the court system but now with urgency: the teams are set to lose their charters Wednesday and in the latest filing, they allege NASCAR has indicated it will immediately begin the process of selling the six tags that guarantee entry into every race as well as monetary rewards and other benefits.

Should the teams have their six combined charters revoked, the drivers would have to qualify on speed to make each week’s race and would receive a smaller percentage of the purse. They may also have to refund money paid out through the first 20 races of the year.

NASCAR accused 23XI and Front Row of filing “a third motion for another unnecessary and inappropriate preliminary injunction” and noted it has made multiple requests to the teams “to present a proposal to resolve this litigation.

“We have yet to receive a proposal from 23XI or Front Row, as they have instead preferred to continue their damaging and distracting lawsuit,” NASCAR said in a statement. “We will defend NASCAR’s integrity from this baseless lawsuit forced upon the sport that threatens to divide the stakeholders committed to serving race fans everywhere.

“We remain focused on collaborating with the 13 race teams that signed the 2025 charter agreements and share our mutual goal of delivering the best racing in the world each week, including this weekend in Dover.”

Later Monday, Rick Ware Racing and Legacy Motor Club had a scheduled court date in North Carolina over their fight for a charter. Legacy, owned by seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, contends it had an agreement with RWR to lease one of its two charters in 2026.

RWR contends the agreement was for 2027 and it already has a contract with RFK Racing to lease that team a charter next season.

Originally Published: July 14, 2025 at 10:48 AM CDT