Even Without NASCAR Charters, How 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports Plan to Race in 2025

Even though 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have refused to sign the Cup Series Charter agreement, they still plan to compete in NASCAR’s 2025 season.

“We plan to continue to go through with all the things that we were planning before this lawsuit,” said Curtis Polk, co-owner of 23XI Racing and Michael Jordan’s business manager. “Our business model is going to move forward, and we are going to continue to grow and compete at the highest level.”

Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick are slated to race for 23XI, while Noah Gragson has been confirmed for what is expected to be one of three cars at Front Row Motorsports.

Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins concurred, saying they were committed to their teams and were staffing them in preparation for 2025.

“We’re full speed ahead,” Jenkins said.

The only two teams of 15 that refused to sign the agreement are requesting a preliminary injunction that will allow them to “accept and operate” under the 2025 Charter agreement until the antitrust suit they filed against NASCAR is resolved. In other words, they want the Charter’s benefits—money and guaranteed starting positions in each race—without being bound by the rules governing the teams that signed the Charter agreement. Specifically, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports don’t want the Charter agreement clause that says they are relinquishing their antitrust claims against NASCAR to pertain to them while they reap the benefits of the agreement they declined to sign.

In the suit, 23XI said that in October 2020, it acquired a 2016 Charter from a Cup team that has since ceased operation. NASCAR approved the purchase. In the fall of 2021, 23XI purchased a second 2016 Charter for $13.5 million from a Cup team. By the end of 2021, the 23XI Racing owners said they had invested approximately $30 million in the team.

Front Row Motorsports received two of the original Charters from NASCAR in 2016 and signed the extension for those Charters which expire Dec. 31, 2024. The team states in the suit that even though it made the playoffs in 2021 and 2023, it “has never generated a profit.”

In the suit, the two teams said they have each purchased a Charter from Stewart-Haas Racing which has signed the new Charter agreement. Even though SHR is closing at season’s end, it had to sign the agreement to keep its four Charters valid for 2025-2031. Both teams’ transactions with SHR are in escrow and require approval from NASCAR, according to the suit.