Viking Motorsports announced today that the organization will expand to a two-car NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series program for the 2026 season. The team will field the newly established No. 96 Chevrolet, driven by Anthony Alfredo, with Josh Graham — who previously worked with Alfredo earlier in his career — returning as his crew chief as the pair reunite for another competitive run together.

This expansion marks a major step in the team’s evolution as Viking Motorsports enters its second full-time season at the national level. The move underscores the organization’s commitment to continued growth, performance, and long-term competitiveness.

Team owner Don Sackett expressed his enthusiasm for the team’s next phase:

“Expanding to a second full-time car is a major moment for our organization. Anthony brings experience, professionalism, and a tremendous work ethic that aligns perfectly with where Viking Motorsports is heading. Reuniting him with Josh gives us a strong foundation for this new team. Their chemistry, trust, and history together will help accelerate our growth and elevate our entire program.”

Alfredo, who joins Viking Motorsports with multiple years of NASCAR national series experience, is eager to reteam with Graham.

“I’m fired up to join Viking Motorsports and drive the No. 96 Chevrolet in 2026. Having the chance to work with Josh again is something I’m really excited about — we’ve had success together, and I know what we can accomplish as a team. You can see how much Viking is building and investing in its future. Being part of their expansion to a two-car program is a big opportunity, and I can’t wait to get going.”

The team will announce primary and associate partners for the No. 96 Chevrolet in the coming weeks.

Viking Motorsports PR

“I’m worried about our sport. I want it to thrive.”

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are currently suing NASCAR for alleged antitrust violations. The trial began on Monday and they have been in court every day this week.

There’s been a lot of news to come out of the trial. Both NASCAR and the teams involved have egg on their face as private messages surface in court.

Richard Childress is considering legal action against NASCAR he was called a ‘redneck’

The trial is expected to last just a few weeks. However, the loser will likely appeal, dragging this case on for a lengthy amount of time.

A settlement could bring it all to a stop. Settlement discussions took place leading up to Monday’s opening in court but the two sides were unable to reach an agreement.

All of this has Mark Martin worried…

NASCAR team owner says he’s lost $100M in the sport

Mark Martin comments

“This lawsuit is devastating to the sport we love. I really hope we as fans come out of this better off, but I just don’t see a pathway that leads us to that,” Mark Martin stated via X.

He added, “I’m worried about our sport. I want it to thrive.”

He’s not alone. Earlier this year, Brad Keselowski noted that this lawsuit was the greatest threat to the sport.

Brad Keselowski says the NASCAR lawsuit is a threat to the sport

Before the trial began, Judge Kenneth Bell encouraged both sides to come to an agreement before trial. He noted that otherwise, both sides would be “burning the house down”.

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NASCAR | 23XI Racing | Front Row Motorsports

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Retired NBA great Michael Jordan took the stand in the landmark NASCAR antitrust case and testified Friday that he has been a fan of the stock car series since he was a child but felt he had little choice but to sue to force changes in a business model he sees as shortchanging teams and drivers risking their lives to keep the sport going.

Jordan testified before a packed courtroom for an hour. His celebrity drew quips from the judge and even a defense attorney as he outlined why the team he co-owns, 23XI, had joined Front Row Motorsports in going to court against the top auto racing series in the United States.

“Someone had to step forward and challenge the entity,” soft-spoken Jordan told the jury. “I sat in those meetings with longtime owners who were brow-beaten for so many years trying to make change. I was a new person, I wasn’t afraid. I felt I could challenge NASCAR as a whole. I felt as far as the sport, it needed to be looked at from a different view.”

Jordan’s highly anticipated appearance followed dramatic testimony from Heather Gibbs, the daughter-in-law of race team owner Joe Gibbs, about the chaotic six-hour period in which teams had to sign an extension or forfeit the charters that guarantee revenue week to week throughout NASCAR’s 38-race season.

“The document was something in business you would never sign,” said Heather Gibbs, who is also a licensed real estate agent. “It was like a gun to your head: If you don’t sign, you have nothing.”

Charters are the equivalent of the franchise model used in other sports, and NASCAR guarantees every chartered car a spot in every race, plus a defined payout from the series. The system was created in 2016, and, during the two-plus years of bitter negotiations on an extension, teams begged for the renewable charters to be made permanent for revenue stability.

When NASCAR refused to make them permanent and gave the teams six hours in September 2024 to sign the 112-page extension, 23XI and Front Row Motorsports were the only two organizations out of 15 to refuse. They instead filed the antitrust suit, and the trial opened Monday to hear their allegations that NASCAR is a monopolistic bully. 23XI is co-owned by Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row is owned by fast food franchiser Bob Jenkins.

Jordan testified that 23XI bought a third charter late in 2024 for $28 million even with all the uncertainty.

“I’m pretty sure they know I love to win,” the six-time NBA champion said. “Denny convinced me getting a third driver improved our chances to win, so I dove in.”

Like other witnesses this week, Jordan described a NASCAR that refused to discuss options or potential changes to the charter system, which he supports. He was asked why 23XI didn’t sign the extensions last fall.

“One, I didn’t think it was economically viable. Two, it said you could not sue NASCAR; that was an antitrust violation, I felt. Three, they gave us an ultimatum I didn’t think was fair to 23XI,” Jordan said, adding: “I wanted a partnership, and permanent charters wasn’t even a consideration. The pillars that the teams wanted, no one on the NASCAR side even negotiated or compromised. They were not even open-minded to welcome those conversations, so this is where we ended up.”

Jordan referred to the NBA business model, which shares approximately half its revenue with players, far more than NASCAR.

“The revenue split was far less than any business I’ve ever been a part of. We didn’t think we’d ever get to what basketball was getting, but we wanted to move in that direction,” he said. “The thing I see in NASCAR that I think is absent is a shared responsibility of growth as well as loss.”

Jordan said he owns 60% of 23XI and has invested $35 million to $40 million in the team. Jenkins testified earlier this week that he has never turned a profit since launching his NASCAR team in the early 2000s and estimates he has lost $100 million even while winning the Daytona 500 in 2021.

Heather Gibbs earlier told the jury how she became co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing the day after her husband, Coy, unexpectedly died in his sleep the same night their son Ty won NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series championship in 2022. Coy Gibbs had moved into a leadership role with JGR following the death of his older brother, J.D., in 2019.

Because Joe Gibbs had lost both his sons and had built the team as a legacy for his family, his daughter-in-law took an active role in the organization and personally participated in negotiations for the charter extensions. When NASCAR made its final offer at 6 p.m. on a Friday with just hours to sign, the agreement did not include permanent charters. Gibbs testified that the Gibbs organization was devastated.

“Everything was going so fast, the legacy of Coy, the legacy of J.D., everyone at JGR was very upset,” she told the jury. She said her father-in-law called NASCAR chairman Jim France pleading for a resolution.

“Joe said, ‘Jim, you can’t do this,'” she said. “And Jim was done with the conversation.”

Heather Gibbs said she had to leave to take her son to a baseball game in Chapel Hill and left worried about her father-in-law, who was 84 at the time.

“I left him sitting in the dark, listening to his blood sugar monitors going off,” she testified. “We decided we had to sign. We can’t lose everything. I did not think it was a fair deal to the teams.”

Joe Gibbs is an NFL Hall of Fame coach as well as a Hall of Fame NASCAR owner. He led the Washington football team to three Super Bowl titles, and JGR has won five Cup Series championships. JGR has 450 employees, has charters for four Cup cars and relies solely on outside sponsorship and investors to keep the team afloat. The team will mark its 35th season next year, and Heather Gibbs told the jury that JGR needs permanent charters to protect its investment in NASCAR.

“It’s the most important point, a permanent place in their history books,” she testified. “It is absolutely vital to the teams for us to know we have security, it can’t be taken away, to know what we’ve invested in is ours.”

Michael Annett, who turned 39 years old this year, has tragically passed away. Annett competed at all three national levels of the sport, and was a winner in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (formerly Xfinity) Series.

Annett was a full-time Cup driver from 2014 through 2016 as well, starting 106 races and placing as high as 13th in the 2015 Daytona 500. He drove for both Tommy Baldwin and later Harry Scott in his NASCAR Cup career. As a driver in the secondary level of the sport, Annett competed in 321 races between 2008 and 2021, including several seasons with JR Motorsports.

His lone victory as a NASCAR driver came with the team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., winning the 2019 season-opener at Daytona. He placed as high as fifth in the championship standings, which came in 2012 while driving for Richard Petty Motorsports.

Michael Annett, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Annett family with the passing of our friend Michael Annett,” said JR Motorsports in a statement. “Michael was a key member of JRM from 2017 until he retired in 2021 and was an important part in turning us into the four-car organization we remain today.”

Annett only started nine Truck races, earning a runner-up finish at Kentucky in 2008, finishing half-a-second back of race winner Johnny Benson Jr.

Annett also won twice as an ARCA driver, taking the checkered flag at Talladega in 2007 and Daytona in 2008.

Annett made his final start at the national level of NASCAR in 2021, finishing eleventh in the Phoenix finale. He also missed a handful of races that year due to a stress fracture in his right femur.

No details were provided regarding the nature of his passing at this time. 

NASCAR world remembers Annett

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– The Motorsport.com Team

Michael Annett, a longtime competitor in NASCAR’s national series has passed away, he was 39 years old.

Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Annett began his racing journey after a stint in hockey, transitioning to motorsports in his early 20s.

He first made headlines in the ARCA Menards Series, earning two victories at Talladega Superspeedway in 2007 and Daytona International Speedway in 2008. These wins paved the way for his move into NASCAR.

Annett competed across all three of NASCAR’s top divisions during his career. He made nine starts in the Craftsman Truck Series, highlighted by a second-place finish at Kentucky Speedway in 2008. His time in the NASCAR Cup Series spanned 106 races from 2014 to 2016, driving for teams including Germain Racing, Rusty Wallace Racing, Richard Petty, Tommy Baldwin Racing, HScott Motorsports and more throughout his career.

The bulk of Annett’s success came in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, where he raced in 321 events over 11 seasons. Driving primarily for JR Motorsports in the later stages of his career, Annett scored his lone Xfinity Series victory in the 2019 season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

He recorded 95 top-ten finishes and one pole position in the series.

After battling injuries during the 2021 season, Annett announced his retirement from full-time racing at the end of that year ending a 16 year career.