Denny Hamlin defends Curtis Polk after scathing NASCAR letter, countersuit of 23XI

Denny Hamlin showed support for 23XI Racing co-owner Curtis Polk after NASCAR attacked him in a letter. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin shared his thoughts on NASCAR’s countersuit against 23XI and Front Row Motorsports and defended Polk after NASCAR questioned his knowledge of the sport’s business.

“My favorite was saying that Curtis doesn’t know NASCAR business,” Hamlin said. “That’s like saying a chef doesn’t know how to cook. He’s built Michael Jordan‘s empire for the last 30 years. The guy knows the business. He’s been doing it for five years.

“Curtis has just been fantastic for our team and certainly a pioneer, I beleive, and a trailblazer for new ideas that our team uses every single time we hit the racetrack and how we do business and certain things. I can tell you this personally that I’m proud to be in business with him.”

NASCAR filed a countersuit against 23XI and Front Row last week, citing that the parties “embarked on a strategy to threaten, coerce, and extort NASCAR into meeting their demands for better contract and financial terms.” This was a response to 23XI and Front Row filing an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR on Oct. 2, saying that it violated the Sherman Antitrust Act.

What NASCAR said about Curtis Polk and 23XI Racing

In the countersuit, NASCAR said, “Polk put this plan into action during 23XI-led negotiations on behalf of the members of the Race Team Alliance (“RTA”), seeking to extract more favorable financial and non-financial terms than in the 2016 Charter. Polk played an active role in coordinating the Counterclaim Defendants’ concerted actions, negotiating on behalf of all RTA members when engaging with NASCAR on terms such as the payments the teams would receive as part of the 2025 Charter.

“Polk sent multiple requests to NASCAR on behalf of all RTA members demanding changes to the 2025 Charter, and otherwise threatening that the RTA members would take adverse group actions if such demands were not met. Polk’s individual role was at the very center of the plot to use collusive behavior to extract more favorable commercial terms from NASCAR in the Charter negotiations.”

Curtis Polk co-owns 23XI Racing with Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan. The team features three full-time Cup Series drivers — Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick and rookie Riley Herbst. Since debuting in 2021, 23XI has won eight Cup Series races and one regular-season Cup Series Championship (Reddick in 2024).