Front Row Motorsports Faces Potential Collapse As NASCAR Charter Showdown Escalates

NASCAR is in the middle of one of its biggest off-track crises ever. Front Row Motorsports and Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing are threatening to shut down after the 2025 season if NASCAR goes ahead with plans to give their charters to other teams.

What started as a business disagreement has turned into a fight that could end two established Cup Series teams.

The trouble comes from NASCAR’s charter system, which works like a franchise model. It guarantees teams can race in all events and gives them steady money. After more than two years of tough talks, 13 out of 15 Cup Series teams signed a new charter deal for 2025-2031. But 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports said no to what they called “take-it-or-leave” terms.

Is Front Row Motorsports Fighting for Survival?

The charter agreement was reached less than 48 hours before NASCAR’s playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and multiple teams said they felt pressured to accept what was presented as a “take it or leave it final offer” with the clock ticking on a deadline to sign. One NASCAR executive said, “We have all the leverage, the teams almost have [to] sign whatever terms we put in front of them.”

Losing charter status hits teams hard in the wallet. Charter teams get guaranteed base payments just for showing up to the race, while open teams only earn money based on how well they finish. This difference can mean millions of dollars over a season.

Front Row Motorsports has been around since 2005, owned by restaurant businessman Bob Jenkins. It’s one of NASCAR’s smaller budget teams with about 60 employees and was worth around $30 million as of 2020.

The team has made a name for itself by running smart with used equipment from bigger Ford teams. They currently work with Team Penske after previously partnering with RFK Racing.

Both teams took NASCAR and CEO Jim France to federal court, claiming the sanctioning body was acting like a monopoly.

They won a court order in December 2024 that let them compete as charter teams while the case went to trial. But that protection got overturned by appeals court in July 2025, forcing both teams to compete as open teams for the rest of the season.

Things got heated during a court hearing on August 28, 2025. The teams showed what they called “smoking-gun documents” – NASCAR’s internal messages about seeing competitive entry as a threat and how they used their monopoly power to force one-sided charter deals.

The charter fight is hurting more than just the teams. Tyler Reddick, who won the 2024 regular season championship driving for 23XI Racing, has a contract clause that lets him become a free agent if his team loses charter status. Court papers show Reddick has sent a breach of contract notice, and sponsors are pulling back because of all the uncertainty.

The case goes to trial on December 1, 2025, and could change everything about how NASCAR works.