Connect with us

Motorsports

Denny Hamlin remains confident in antitrust case brought by 23XI and Front Row against NASCAR

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Denny Hamlin said Saturday that he remains “pretty confident” in the case brought by his 23XI Racing, co-owned by the veteran driver and retired NBA great Michael Jordan, and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR alleging antitrust violations. Hamlin spoke a day after a three-judge federal appellate panel indicated it might overturn […]

Published

on


KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Denny Hamlin said Saturday that he remains “pretty confident” in the case brought by his 23XI Racing, co-owned by the veteran driver and retired NBA great Michael Jordan, and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR alleging antitrust violations.

Hamlin spoke a day after a three-judge federal appellate panel indicated it might overturn an injunction that allows 23XI and Front Row to race as chartered teams, even as their lawsuit against the stock car series plays out in court.

“You know, they’re telling me kind of what’s going on. I didn’t get to hear it live or anything like that,” Hamlin said after qualifying 14th for Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway. “But we’re overall pretty confident in our case.”

The teams filed the antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR on Oct. 2 in the Western District of North Carolina, arguing that the series bullied teams into signing charter agreements — essentially franchise deals — that make it difficult to compete financially.

Those were the only two holdouts of 15 charter-holding teams that refused to sign the agreements in September.

The most recent extension of the charters lasts until 2031, matching the current media rights deal. Perhaps the biggest benefit of them is that they guarantee 36 of the 40 spots available in each NASCAR race to teams that own them.

Overturning the injunction would leave 23XI and Front Row racing as “open teams,” meaning they would have to qualify at every Cup Series event. But there are only four open spots, and 23XI had four cars at Kansas this week — Bubba Wallace, Riley Herbst, Tyler Reddick and Corey Heim — and Front Row had three with Noah Gragson, Zane Smith and Todd Gilliland.

“You know, the judges haven’t made any kind of ruling,” Hamlin said, “so until they do, then we’re going to stay status quo.”

NASCAR attorney Chris Yates had argued the injunction, granted in December by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell, forced the series into an unwanted relationship with unwilling partners and that it harms other teams because they earn less money. He also said that the teams should not have the benefits of the charter system they are suing to overturn.

“There’s no other place to compete,” countered Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney representing 23XI and Front Row, noting overturning the injunction would cause tremendous damage to the teams, potentially including the loss of drivers and sponsors.

“It will cause havoc to overturn this injunction in the middle of the season,” Kessler said.

There is a trial date set for December, and judge Steven Agee urged the sides to meet for mediation — previously ordered by a lower court — to attempt to resolve the dispute over the injunction. But that seems unlikely.

“We’re not going to rewrite the charter,” Yates told the judges.



Link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Motorsports

Without charters, what would happen to 23XI and FRM as open teams?

Thursday, news broke that the U.S. Court of Appeals plans to overturn the preliminary injunction that allowed 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to compete with charters while suing NASCAR over the 2025 Charter Agreement. Should the ruling go uncontested, it will take effect on June 26th and both teams will lose their charters ahead […]

Published

on


Thursday, news broke that the U.S. Court of Appeals plans to overturn the preliminary injunction that allowed 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to compete with charters while suing NASCAR over the 2025 Charter Agreement. Should the ruling go uncontested, it will take effect on June 26th and both teams will lose their charters ahead of the Atlanta race weekend, but what does this mean? We’re here to explain it all.

Contracts voided, qualify on time, and loss of income

The most glaring issue involves guaranteed grid spots. Chartered teams are guaranteed a spot on the grid each week while Open teams have to qualify on time. However, only one race this year has had more than a full field of entries, sending cars home (the Daytona 500). The Coca-Cola 600 was the only other race that reached the cap for field size with 40 cars starting.

Open teams will not benefit from the financial aspect of the Charter Agreement either, meaning that they will earn far less money than chartered teams every race weekend, regardless of where they finish. Part of that is revenue from NASCAR’s multi-billion dollar broadcasting deal, and only Chartered teams get a slice of that pie. While exact figures aren’t made public, it’s clearly several million dollars.

As pointed out by 23XI/FRM attorney Jeffrey Kessler, this will also compromise and void contracts with sponsors and drivers. Drivers such as Tyler Reddick can move to other teams while sponsorship deals that were locked in will suddenly be in jeopardy. There are clauses in some contract that nullify any previously existing agreements. 

With no charters, teams will have to rely heavily on sponsorship dollars and in the case of 23XI, funding from team co-owner Michael Jordan. In this situation, things would likely be tighter for a FRM team owner and restaurant entrepreneur Bob Jenkins. Either way, they will surely be operating in the red as even chartered teams have spoken about struggling to make a profit due to the cost of business. 

Michael McDowell, Front Row Motorsports Ford; Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Toyota

Michael McDowell, Front Row Motorsports Ford; Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Toyota

Photo by: Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Now, what it does not have an impact on is the championship. The points system is identical for both open and chartered entries. Open teams are eligible to compete in the playoffs and run for the championship. And if an open team fails to qualify for a race but is competing full-time, they do not need a playoff waiver because they attempted the race.

This won’t compromise on-track speed other than being a possible distraction, but an open entry hasn’t won a Cup race since Shane van Gisbergen’s 2023 victory in the Chicago Street Course race in Trackhouse’s Project 91 entry.

Contrary to what some mistakingly believe, losing charters does not mean a team will lose their car numbers. Charters are numbered, yes, but that is not tied directly to actual car numbers. 

What becomes of the charters

Another interesting question in this specific scenario is what becomes of the six charters the teams now hold. If this ruling holds, NASCAR could choose to just run with 30 charters, increasing the payout for the remaining teams. 

However, no one is sure what will happen in the case of the charters that helped create the third teams for both 23XI and FRM. They each purchased a charter from Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of the 2024 season, a team that has since shut down. The deal only went through because 23XI and FRM used the courts to push it through. These charters cannot be returned to SHR because SHR doesn’t exist. Gene Haas continues to race, but only as a single-car team in the Cup Series.

Read Also:

 

In this article

Nick DeGroot

NASCAR Cup

Front Row Motorsports

23XI Racing

Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

Kyle Busch lists $4.5 million estate with incredible off-road track

NASCAR driver Kyle Busch has put his 35-acre estate in Cleveland, North Carolina, on the market for $4.5 million. The expansive property features multiple off-road tracks, as well as luxury amenities across a custom-built 15,000 square-foot barndominium. The property boasts four bedrooms, six full bathrooms, and two half bathrooms. The racing-focused amenities make it particularly […]

Published

on


NASCAR driver Kyle Busch has put his 35-acre estate in Cleveland, North Carolina, on the market for $4.5 million. The expansive property features multiple off-road tracks, as well as luxury amenities across a custom-built 15,000 square-foot barndominium.

The property boasts four bedrooms, six full bathrooms, and two half bathrooms. The racing-focused amenities make it particularly appealing to motorsports enthusiasts. It features underground garages, private fuel storage facilities, and multiple off-road tracks that weave through the trees and into the open air.

The 40-year-old driver shared the listing on social media, writing, “We love this piece of land and the amazing barndominium but right now we just don’t have enough time to spend there. We can’t wait for someone to love it as much as we have!”

 

Busch and his family bought the estate in 2023 from the Deegan family, who are also heavily linked to the motorsports world. Brian Deegan, a professional motocross rider and racing driver, and his family including Hailie Deegan, who previously raced in NASCAR and is currently racing in IndyNXT, built the property in 2020 after relocating from California.

 

This comes after the Richard Childress Racing driver signed a contract extension with the team, which will see him in the No. 8 Chevrolet through the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. 

Commenting on the new contract, which was announced on 24 May, 2025, Childress explained that, “This has extended our contract out another year, and we’re really excited. You know, Kyle has been great to work with. Everybody had questions going in. I love a driver that (doesn’t) like to lose, and we’ve worked hard. We’ve got some exciting things coming up.

“He and I are both alike in one area that we don’t like to lose; we want to win races. I still think that Kyle will win him a championship, and we want it to happen at RCR and that’s our plans. We got a lot of new things coming. This car is a lot different. It’s so engineer-driven that we’re stepping our engineering up more, and I’m excited about the future.”

Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

“I give a lot of credit to Richard and him believing in me and giving me the opportunity to be able to come over here and have a chance to drive his car,” Busch added. “So for me, rewarding him with that and having the success on the race track is paramount. Being able to continue on when I first joined, I feel like there were some things that we were doing within the rules at that time that got us some extra speed, and then, there was definitely some things that came down that they didn’t like us doing.

“So that’s sort of where we’ve lost a little bit if people are wondering, why have we not been able to win like we did in the first 16 races. It’s just a matter of being able to continue to work with the people that are there. It’s a great culture. I enjoy working there. I fit in well there. They enjoy having me there.”

In this article

Lydia Mee

NASCAR Cup

Kyle Busch

Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

NASCAR driver Kyle Busch lists multi-million Barndominium for sale

Kyle Busch puts North Carolina barndo property on the market Kyle Busch is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. He currently races for Richard Childress Racing driving the No. 8 car. Busch: “There is no fixing what we’ve got going on right now” The Busch family has listed their North Carolina barndo for sale. It’s […]

Published

on


Kyle Busch puts North Carolina barndo property on the market

Kyle Busch is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. He currently races for Richard Childress Racing driving the No. 8 car.

Busch: “There is no fixing what we’ve got going on right now”

The Busch family has listed their North Carolina barndo for sale. It’s built like a barn but with a modern living space and massive garage space attached.

The complex features 15,000 sq ft of space. It’s a fully custom estate sitting on 35 acres of land.

The barndominium features two fully independent living spaces. That includes two kitchens and two living areas, one of each side.

This complex is ideal for auto enthusiasts. It features private fuel storage and underground garages.

It comes with a load of unique spaces such as a rock climbing wall, basketball court as well as a private bar and club.

The property sits close to Moorseville and it’s nearly an hour North of Downtown Charlotte, NC.

Kyle Busch posted via X, “We love this piece of land and the amazing barndominium but right now we just don’t have enough time to spend there. We can’t wait for someone to love it as much as we have!”

Last month, another NASCAR champion listed their Lake Norman mansion for sale. Martin Truex Jr retired from full-time competition following the 2024 season.

NASCAR driver Martin Truex Jr puts mansion up for sale

Garage - Kyle Busch barndominiumGarage - Kyle Busch barndominium
Garage – Kyle Busch barndominium

Kyle Busch
Barndo Specs

Built
2020

Beds
4

Baths
6

Acres
35.23

Address:
1525 Shinnville Road
Cleveland, NC 27013

Price:
$4,500,000

Click here to view the full listing

Kyle Busch Barndominium Photos

Kevin Harvick sells Charlotte mansion after buying ‘Talladega Nights’ home

Links

Kyle Busch | NASCAR





Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

Corey Heim to replace Jake Finch for Venturini Motorsports in ARCA race at Michigan

A big shock to the ARCA Menards Series field tonight. Corey Heim is replacing Jake Finch for Venturini Motorsports in the No. 25 car. Heim, a favorite to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship this year, is going to test these ARCA drivers like never before. Corey Heim is going to be a great […]

Published

on


A big shock to the ARCA Menards Series field tonight. Corey Heim is replacing Jake Finch for Venturini Motorsports in the No. 25 car. Heim, a favorite to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship this year, is going to test these ARCA drivers like never before.

Corey Heim is going to be a great test for the rest of the field. Drivers like Brenden “Butterbean” Queen will get a shot to go up against a driver that many consider ready to take on the Cup Series.

This race also features Gio Ruggiero, a Truck Series full-timer. Butterbean, Isabella Robusto, Lavar Scott, and the usual suspects are going to be pushed to their limits tonight in Michigan if they want to keep up with Ruggerio and Heim.

Corey Heim was the runner-up in the 2021 ARCA Menards Series season. That is where his infamous rivalry with Ty Gibbs began, a rivalry many NASCAR fans believe has contributed to Heim being held up in the lower ranks for so long. Though that seems to be more conjecture than fact.

In 43 starts in the ARCA Menards Series, Heim has nine wins and 41 top-10 finishes. He also has seven pole awards. His chances of winning tonight, if a sportsbook carried ARCA, would probably be -1000 or more. In Venturini equipment, he should be head and shoulders above the competition.

Then again, you line them up and race for a reason. We have seen Butterbean emerge as the likely championship favorite in the series this season. He has won at Daytona and Kansas, coming from a short track background, which is very impressive.

Corey Heim might stink up the ARCA show at Michigan

The ARCA race at Michigan isn’t usually the most exciting. These big, fast tracks string out the field quicker than most, and with only a handful of competitive cars and drivers in the field, it could get ugly, quickly. Good news, it should be a quick race, all things considered.

Corey Heim is going into this race feeling he should win, no doubt. He is a 23XI Racing development driver, a 15-time winner in the Truck Series, and is seen as one of the top prospects in the sport.

Even though Heim hasn’t raced under the ARCA platform since 2022, it won’t be that big of an adjustment. This weekend is more about getting back in the winner’s column in the Truck Series. At Nashville, Heim started on pole and, for the fourth time this season, failed to convert his pole position to a checkered flag.

Corey Heim has never raced at Michigan in the Truck Series. The extra laps will help him out. Jake Finch is recovering from an infection and decided it was best not to race this weekend.



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

NASCAR insider goes off on fans ‘b****ing’ about Prime Video race broadcasts

A NASCAR insider had a message for the fans who have been complaining about races being on Prime Video. After the Nashville Cup Series race, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic went to X/Twitter to sound off on the fans who don’t like live racing being on a streaming service. “The people in my mentions bitching […]

Published

on


A NASCAR insider had a message for the fans who have been complaining about races being on Prime Video. After the Nashville Cup Series race, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic went to X/Twitter to sound off on the fans who don’t like live racing being on a streaming service.

“The people in my mentions bitching about races on Prime are so exhausting,” Gluck wrote. “OH NO, possibly the best NASCAR TV coverage ever is on a streaming service with a free 30-day trial! But I wanted to watch more ads and have no post-race and pay for my Amazon shipping. You bastards!”

Prime Video coverage of NASCAR has received rave reviews from critics and fans. But there are some people who either don’t have Prime or don’t want to subscribe to the streaming service, leading to some complaints. It’s no different from what we have seen with the NFL streaming games on Prime, Netflix and Peacock.

The good news for the non-Prime lovers is that NASCAR will have just three more races before TNT takes over. In NASCAR’s new media deal that was signed in November of 2023, Prime Video will cover five races each year until the end of the 2031 season.

More on NASCAR’s coverage on Prime Video

“NASCAR is the most popular motorsport in the country, and we can’t wait to deliver Cup Series racing to Prime members in the U.S. for the first time,” Jay Marine, vice president and global head of sports at Prime Video, said in November 2023. “We are excited to find ways to get NASCAR fans closer to the racing than ever before, and we are proud to contribute to the growth of the sport in the years ahead.”

After Prime Video made its NASCAR coverage debut last month, Jeff Gluck praised the streaming service. “People across my feed have just been raving,” Gluck said on The Teardown podcast. “Even when NBC took over and everybody’s really excited about them coming in, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen my social media feed rave about a NASCAR broadcaster to that level. People were just thrilled with the product that they got from every facet, it seemed like.

“…It was such a high-quality product, and you could tell that they put a lot into it, and it was just really great. I also think it’s very important in a sense for NASCAR to see that the fans do like something and will all love something when it’s worth loving. There’s a narrative in NASCAR that the fans hate everything, they’re so cynical and they’ll complain about everything. There’s a lot of complaints, but when you see something like you saw with the Prime broadcast the other night, people just genuinely loved it.”



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

Colorado’s Eli Tomac, motocross legend, driven to ‘prove he’s still got it’

While riding a tiny 50cc bike on his family’s ranch in southwest Colorado, a young Eli Tomac started down the track toward motocross immortality. Tomac, the son of iconic mountain biker John Tomac, got that first bike for Christmas when he was 4 years old. In the decades that followed, the father and son trained […]

Published

on


While riding a tiny 50cc bike on his family’s ranch in southwest Colorado, a young Eli Tomac started down the track toward motocross immortality.

Tomac, the son of iconic mountain biker John Tomac, got that first bike for Christmas when he was 4 years old. In the decades that followed, the father and son trained relentlessly on what was at first a small-scale track on just a couple of acres.

Now, the same 800-acre ranch where Tomac still trains is a sprawling motocross oasis in the shadow of the Battle Rock sandstone formation in McElmo Canyon. There’s a full-size motocross track, multiple supercross tracks and some smaller practice tracks, too, encompassing about 80 acres.

“We started to build the track when we first started riding together, and it kept evolving as his bikes got bigger, as his skill level raised,” John Tomac said. “We just kept advancing the track with him. We added on, we refined it, we moved it a couple of times.

“There’s a lot of kids who are good racers when they’re younger, and they don’t pan out later. I think it helped that I was a professional athlete, we had the land to practice on, and I kind of knew a good pathway and I could gauge where he was at, and where he might end up. … But even with all that, he definitely exceeded what a normal expectation for a career would be.”

Tomac is the local headliner at the Thunder Valley National on Saturday in Lakewood.

A four-time motocross champion and two-time supercross champion, he’s racing there for the first time in a couple of years after injuries prevented him from competing in 2023 and ’24. Tomac enters the race in third place in the 450 class, 17 points behind leader Jett Lawrence.

The 32-year-old veteran’s won four times in Colorado as a pro. He claimed the first supercross event at Empower Field in 2019 and has also won at Thunder Valley three times: the 250 class in 2013, and the 450 class in 2018 and ’20. Thunder Valley promoter David Clabaugh says Tomac’s return “notches up the excitement around the event.”

Tomac, who broke his leg in February at a supercross race in Tampa, believes he still has the speed to win and vie for the circuit title this season despite being one of the oldest competitors in the field. Tomac placed second in the first race of the season at Fox Raceway, then fourth in the second race last weekend at Hangtown, where he won the first moto but crashed in the second.

“The comeback and the rebound have been really good,” Tomac said. “I’m looking forward to a better showing in Colorado, because the last time I raced in Colorado in 2024, I ended up breaking my thumb in Denver (during supercross). That was a bummer.

“… I’m more motivated when I show up in Colorado. I get this natural lift and motivation, and the home crowd’s always great.”

Colorado pro motocross racer Eli Tomac, ...

Andy Cross, The Denver Post

Colorado pro motocross racer Eli Tomac at the finish line jump during the 450 Moto #1 for the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship 2020 Thunder Valley National at Thunder Valley Park on Oct. 3, 2020. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

While Tomac looks to return to the Thunder Valley podium, John is the grand marshal of Saturday’s event. John’s guided Eli throughout his career, from the time Eli won his first race at Loretta Lynn’s at the age of nine, to Eli becoming the only rider ever to win his pro debut in 2010, and through the championships and Eli’s 108 total American Motorcyclist Association wins.

Eli said his father’s coaching and support have been critical to his success and longevity. The father-son duo got their start in the sport together when Eli was little and they’d travel to races with John competing in his own class as an amateur.

“He’s been with me by my side since the beginning of it all, going to every race,” Eli said. “It’s a little out of the ordinary, but we’ve made it work, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ve been able to maintain a great father-son working relationship. He’s always had a great eye in terms of technique on the motorcycle, helping me find lines before the race, and the little details of the sport others might overlook.”

Considering both of their resumes, John and Eli are one of the most accomplished father-son duos to ever get on two wheels.

John won the National Off-Road Bicycle Association Championship in cross-country, downhill and slalom in 1988, and went on to accumulate several more titles before retiring in 2005 as the winningest mountain biker ever. He was also an elite road cyclist who competed for the U.S.A. Cycling National Team.

All that earned John induction into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.

“There’s a reason why they call him ‘The General,’” said motocross racer and family friend Jeremy Martin, who trained with Eli in Cortez for several years. “That dude left no stone unturned, and he held you accountable. Even on the days you were tired, he showed up, put in the work, was consistent, was rock solid. He did what needed to be done when you never wanted to do it.”

Now, “The General” is determined to see his son finish his career on his terms.



Link

Continue Reading

Most Viewed Posts

Trending