Michael Jordan has taken a major loss off the racetrack.
Jordan’s 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports, are now at risk of losing their NASCAR charter status—the sport’s version of franchises—as the entities’ legal battles continue.
On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction, ordered in December by a U.S. District Court in North Carolina, that required NASCAR to treat 23XI and Front Row as chartered teams for the 2025 season.
Charter status gives teams automatic spots in races and guarantees them larger prize-money payouts.
The attorney representing both 23XI and Front Row, Jeffrey Kessler, issued a statement responding to the court decision.
“We are disappointed by today’s ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and are reviewing the decision to determine our next step,” Kessler said. “This ruling is based on a very narrow consideration of whether a release of claims in the charter agreements is anti-competitive and does not impact our chances of winning at a trial scheduled for December 1. We remain confident in our case and committed to racing for the entirety of this season as we continue our fight to create a fair and just economic system for stock car racing that is free of anticompetitive, monopolistic conduct.”
The teams can appeal the latest ruling, so the earliest they would potentially have to run a NASCAR Cup Series race without charter status would be June 28 in Atlanta.
Front Row and 23XI initially sued NASCAR in October, calling the France family who owns the organization “monopolistic bullies,” in an effort to get a larger share of media-rights revenue. In March, a lawyer representing NASCAR said he had “no idea” what the suing teams thought a fair split would be, because it had “never been articulated in any filing.”
Tyler Reddick, 23XI’s top driver this season, is currently sixth in the Cup Series standings, while Bubba Wallace is 10th and Riley Herbst is 35th. Front Row’s Todd Gilliland is 23rd, Zane Smith is 25th, and Noah Gragson is 31st.
