Embroiled in a authorized battle with the sanctioning physique, 23XI Racing had its sights on successful its first NASCAR championship this weekend with Tyler Reddick driving the 45 automotive. Sadly Reddick’s sixth place end fell simply in need of Staff Penske’s Joey Logano, who gained the race and the championship within the closing spherical of the playoffs. 23XI staff boss Denny Hamlin was actually hoping to finish what may very well be the staff’s closing season in NASCAR with a championship victory. In the course of the season-ending race weekend Hamlin admitted that the staff he co-owns with Basketball’s best star is “TBD” for the 2025 season.
With 23XI and Reddick so near the title, and contemplating the staff is a critical entrance runner for fan favourite, it could be foolish of NASCAR to utterly dismiss such an excellent staff, proper? Even when it had gained the championship outright, Hamlin doesn’t consider it could have made a distinction within the staff’s authorized proceedings. In spite of everything, “Furnishings Row did it,” quipped Hamlin. The 2017 championship title successful Furnishings Row Racing closed its doorways after the 2018 season, following some critically aggressive working from driver Martin Truex, Jr.
“They [FRR] ceased to exist after a championship,” Hamlin continued. “I feel that relying who you ask, I feel on one aspect they [NASCAR] may care much less whether or not you’re right here or not and for us, we definitely have gotten lots of people which have put their coronary heart and souls into this staff and need to see it succeed.”
Hamlin spent the Monday earlier than race weekend in court docket ready to see whether or not his staff would live on within the quick future. Groups 23XI and Entrance Row filed an antitrust lawsuit towards NASCAR in an effort to make the game’s constitution settlement extra honest for all groups. Within the meantime, it filed an injunction in court docket to pressure NASCAR proceed to honor the staff’s now-out-of-date constitution till a brand new settlement may very well be made. The injunction was denied, and whereas the groups will attraction and the lawsuit will play out over the off season, the futures of 23XI and FRM are up within the air.
With out charters in place for the 2025 season 23XI and FRM can be pressured to race as “open groups” with none assure that their entry can be accepted at any spherical of the championship. Each groups have been working a pair of charters every, and each have been seeking to buy a 3rd constitution from the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing because it shuts down operations. In the meantime NASCAR has already introduced that it’ll challenge 32 charters for 2025 as an alternative of its standard 36.
“I’ve poured loads into this sport in a number of methods,” Hamlin continued, “and positively financially over the past 4 years. I’ve put again loads of the cash I bought out of it again into it and positively all may very well be wiped away fairly rapidly.
“Actually, it’s a nervous time for me and we simply hope that this factor will get resolved in a peaceable method or in an accurate method to repair it. I’m simply – it’s bought its ups and downs for certain, but it surely’s troublesome as a result of you may’t management it proper? I can’t depend on my instincts or issues like that to alter the result or the outcomes. It’s simply the info are the info. I’ve simply by no means been part of something like this, however definitely hate that we’re within the state of affairs that we’re in after all the pieces that we’ve put into the help over the past 4 years.”
It appears absurd that NASCAR wouldn’t be doing all the pieces in its energy to maintain a Michael Jordan-helmed staff within the sport, because the billionaire athlete definitely brings one other degree of consideration to the sequence. However it could appear NASCAR would relatively have cash and energy within the brief time period over stability and cooperative relationships with the groups and drivers that make the game work.
