The NASCAR charter war took another dramatic turn Thursday as the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in favor of NASCAR, overturning a lower court’s decision that temporarily granted 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports the right to compete as chartered teams in 2025.
In short: NASCAR wins this round. The two teams that dared to sue the sport they compete in have now lost their guaranteed place in the field—again.
According to the ruling, the December 18 decision by a lower court that handed each team three charters for the 2025 season—including one each purchased from the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing—has been vacated. That means no automatic starting spots, and no guaranteed slice of NASCAR’s multi-billion-dollar media rights pie. Not unless 23XI and Front Row can convince the court to reconsider.
The teams have 14 days to petition for a rehearing. Failing that, the judgment becomes final 21 days from now—on June 26, just two days before the Cup Series hits the newly rebranded EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta. A symbolic gut punch? Perhaps. But also a logistical nightmare for two multi-car operations with Daytona-sized ambitions and no guaranteed starting spots.
This is only the latest twist in a legal saga that started last October when 23XI and Front Row filed a lawsuit against NASCAR, arguing that they were unfairly shut out of charter ownership despite purchasing charters from Stewart-Haas Racing. When the Dec. 18 ruling gave them the green light, it looked like they’d successfully stuck it to the establishment.
But NASCAR quickly appealed that ruling, calling it “fraught with errors, both legally and factually” in a Feb. 12 brief. When oral arguments were heard on May 9, early indications hinted that the appellate judges were skeptical of the teams’ position. That skepticism has now translated into a full reversal.
NASCAR’s charter system, which functions like a franchise model, guarantees certain teams a spot on the starting grid and a share of media revenue. But the current system also hinges on participation in the NASCAR Charter Agreement. When 23XI and Front Row declined to sign the most recent iteration of that agreement, NASCAR took the position that they had forfeited any charter-related benefits—even for charters they claimed to own.
The Dec. 18 ruling temporarily rewrote that narrative. Now, the appellate court has rewritten it again.
The decision throws another wrench into 2025 plans for both teams. Without charters, their drivers must qualify on speed each week. Sponsorship deals become trickier. And any illusion of stability in the garage has been vaporized by legal fumes.
As it stands, 23XI Racing, co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, which expanded aggressively by acquiring SHR assets, now find themselves staring at the same uphill legal road they thought they’d already climbed. It’s unclear whether they will file for a rehearing or take the fight all the way to the Supreme Court.
What is clear: NASCAR has reclaimed the high ground—for now. And with the next round of Charter Agreements expected to shape the sport’s financial future for a decade, the battle lines are only getting deeper.