Will 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports teams be able to race in 2025 amid NASCAR lawsuit?

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are suing NASCAR with an antitrust case. What does that mean for the 2025 season? Neither team has signed the charter agreement for 2025, but both are set to have up to three teams each next season.

There is one major reason why 23XI Racing and Front Row have not signed the charter agreement. NASCAR added a provision in the agreement, which it offered in the take it or leave it deadline at the end of the regular season, that teams had to give up their rights to make an antitrust claim against the sanctioning body.

So, how will these two organizations race next year? As open teams? Not likely. At least, not if they don’t have to.

In the complaint, filed Wednesday, the teams are seeking a preliminary injunction. A preliminary injunction is a court order from a judge that prevents the defendant, in this case NASCAR, from continuing their alleged harmful behavior. The harm here is 23XI and Front Row giving up antitrust rights.

23XI and Front Row want the court to grant the preliminary injunction which would void Section 10.3 in the Charter Agreement, “for the duration of this action [lawsuit] and obtain relief to which they are entitled under the antitrust laws while continuing to compete as a chartered team in the relevant market,” according to the complaint.

In other words, both organizations will sign the agreement and the antitrust section of the agreement will be set aside. Depending on the decision made, the antitrust rule will be upheld or thrown out as invalid.

23XI Racing Lawsuit: Teams need preliminary injunction to avoid racing open cars

While 23XI Racing has stated that they will uphold their commitments to their sponsors and teams, it is not going to be easy. Without the preliminary injunction, which means 23XI and Front Row would not sign the charter agreements, then you start talking about open cars.

It would be incredibly costly to race with three open cars. The NASCAR Cup Series is not set up to support open teams. At least, not running a full-time season. Without a charter agreement signed, 23XI and Front Row wouldn’t be eligible for any money outside of prize money.

That means no TV revenue, no bonuses for performance year over year. All of that would be gone. If 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports want to race full-time next year, the preliminary injunction has to be granted. Otherwise, this process gets a lot more complicated for these two organizations.

23XI did not make this lawsuit for no reason. They believe that they can win and transform the sport of NASCAR. The same goes for Front Row Motorsports. Regardless of the outcome, this will be a pivotal case.