Denny Hamlin calls out NASCAR for taking away teams' rights in initial charter

The 23XI Racing, Front Row lawsuit against NASCAR is ramping up. As more comes out, Denny Hamlin is not shying away from talking details. The 23XI co-owner is taking on the sanctioning body over antitrust claims.

Denny Hamlin is going to have a lot to say in the weeks and months to come. This lawsuit is not going away any time soon. There is already a court date set regarding the preliminary injunction. 23XI and Front Row are seeking to operate as chartered teams in 2025.

On his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin talked about the lawsuit a bit. In his telling, there was one major red flag. NASCAR wanted teams to sign by midnight on September 6th. They also included a section in the agreement making teams forfeit any antitrust claims.

“Yeah I mean things happened really quick in that week of September 6th, obviously, and some details will come out of that. Again, as things go along and progress, you will see more information and facts and understand why this is so bad,” Hamlin explained. “Specifically, September 6th was, I think Michael [Jordan] talked about it, Curtis [Polk] talked about it, Jeffrey Kessler talked about it, [Front Row owner] Bob Jenkins talked about it. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back when essentially, you get this document, that by the way your lawyer’s just had the first opportunity to talk twenty-four hours before that, and then all of a sudden, you must sign this or we’re done, we’re done.

“It just doesn’t, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and at that point, you know, when NASCAR put that clause in the very, I’m not speaking out of turn here because I know that all these things are now public now. They put in there at the last, in the twelfth hour of the agreement they put in there, you may not sue us, if you sign this you cannot sue us for anything basically that we have done through this process. You can’t sue us for antitrust, you can’t – so they took away all of our rights. All of our rights. So at that point, we said, ‘Hold on, stop, we can’t sign this.’ Because we know this is wrong but if we do we release them of any wrongdoing and they’ve had wrongdoings!”

When his co-host Jared asked if NASCAR knew it was wrong, Hamlin laid it out simply.

“I think to a normal, common person it’s a pretty big red flag, would you not think?”

Denny Hamlin, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, are undertaking a serious task here. NASCAR has fought off lawsuits in the past, even antitrust claims. However, this time things feel different. With Jeffrey Kessler on their side, the teams have a veteran of sports labor law.

23XI and Front Row want to operate as chartered teams next year. NASCAR will likely try to take the charters. While 23XI could operate for a time with open cars, it wouldn’t last. Operating independently costs millions.

There is good reason why teams aren’t running open cars all season long. Unless you have insane sponsorship or endless money, it’s hard to do.

The lawsuit is ramping up. Denny Hamlin is still racing for a championship. How awkward would it be if this was the year that Hamlin claimed the elusive championship? I’m not sure if Jim France would be on that stage.