NASCAR sends ominous threat to 23XI, Front Row as loss of charters come into view

In a new filing today, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports claim that NASCAR is ready to sell their charters if they should lose them. The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals has put the teams’ charters in danger, it appears.

The teams are attempting to get a restraining order and a preliminary injunction to allow them to keep racing as chartered teams. The appeals court vacated the previous injunctions allowing the teams to race as usual up to this point.

In the filing, 23XI and FRM’s legal team puts it plainly – NASCAR is ready to sell their charters. This would cause significant harm to both organizations.

“Moreover, if Plaintiffs lose their charter rights now, they may never be able to get them back,” the filing states. “After the Fourth Circuit’s decision vacating the preliminary injunction, NASCAR’s counsel sent a letter to Plaintiffs on June 25, 2025, stating that NASCAR intended to ‘immediately undertake a process’ to sell or unwind the 23XI and Front Row charters that Plaintiffs purchased from Stewart-Haas Racing.

“EX. 50, Letter from C. Yates to J. Kessler (June 25, 2025) at 2. NASCAR stated that it is ‘aware of interest from multiple prospective buyers for charters.’ These potential buyers would also be a threat to obtain Plaintiffs’ other charter rights if Plaintiffs are forced to relinquish them, putting Plaintiffs’ entire future business at risk – as they cannot race as open teams on a long-term basis.”

In the argument section of the filing, 23XI and Front Row reiterated this point. Losing charter status is one thing, to have those charters sold off to other teams is a death sentence for 23XI and FRM.

“First, Plaintiffs’ entire businesses will be placed in jeopardy if they are forced to relinquish
their charter rights during the middle of the Cup Series season prior to trial. As previously discussed, see supra p. 12, NASCAR has indicated that it has willing applicants for Plaintiffs’ charter rights and NASCAR intends to immediately reallocate or sell Plaintiffs’ charters if they become available. Plaintiffs thus face the irreparable threat of losing their charter rights for good. That would doom Plaintiffs’ businesses as it is not possible for teams to race under open agreements on a long-term basis.”

Should the restraining order and preliminary injunction not be granted, 23XI and FRM will lose their charters on Wednesday this week. NASCAR has made it known that they intend to sell the Stewart-Haas charters. So, the lawsuit is getting very real, very quickly.

The teams do not believe the Fourth Circuit considered all of the matters at hand. So, this is a way 23XI Racing and Front Row can try to get around that. At times, law is less about being right or wrong and more about arguing properly.

The court will make a decision soon. 23XI and Front Row have a tight timeline to work with in this matter. So, we will get more on this in the coming days. A lot is on the line for the teams. NASCAR also has a lot to gain from this.

It is clear that NASCAR does not want to do business with 23XI and FRM. Since this lawsuit began, NASCAR has expressed that they are fine to move on without those teams. However, that might not be up to them. This case will go to trial at this rate.