Insider reveals surprising new details in 23XI re-filed injunction in lawsuit vs. NASCAR

The latest court move in NASCAR’s legal proceedings against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports is in, with the two teams refiling a motion for a preliminary injunction.

According to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, the “new circumstances” section of the filing was mostly redacted.

The two racing organizations reportedly have three weeks to decide whether to close on the Stewart Haas Racing charter purchase, with certain sponsors wanting assurances on sponsoring a chartered car.

That comes just hours after 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports posted and subsequently deleted a statement about their course of action on the preliminary injunction front.

““Consistent with Judge Whitney’s earlier ruling, 23XI and Front Row Motorsports are submitting a second preliminary injunction to the court with new evidence,” Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for 23XI and Front Row, said in the now-deleted post. “My clients are also seeking this relief to strike down the release that NASCAR has removed from open agreements but still maintains for charter agreements to try to protect its monopoly. I’m confident the court will act to protect my clients from NASCAR’s anticompetitive conduct.”

Last week 23XI and Front Row Motorsports dropped their appeal to the denial of their motion for a preliminary injunction. They want the courts to force NASCAR to allow them to sign the charter agreement without giving up their right to sue on antitrust grounds, according to Pockrass.

23XI and Front Row recently decided to compete as open teams while pursuing an appeal to operate as chartered teams. They are battling for the right to race without signing an agreement. By operating as an open team, this could mean that 23XI might miss The Clash in February.

Will 23XI miss The Clash because of the lawsuit?

“I don’t know. I think a lot of dominoes need to fall. Sponsorship, things like that,” Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “So, I don’t know that that decision’s been rock solid, made yet. But you know we, um, things are so fluid, over the next few weeks we’ll probably know more.”

Hamlin was also asked about the benefits of competing in The Clash.

“Yeah it’s always a good, The Clash is always a good repetition. A rep,” Hamlin said. “It’s certainly one where even though you don’t have pit crews there, it’s good for the teams to work some kinks out. So, yes. But also you know, it’s, you’re probably going to go down there and tear up a lot of stuff. So, I don’t know, we’ll see.”

On3’s Brian Jones also contributed to this report.