23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports will compete as Open teams this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway and next weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after being denied a temporary restraining order to keep NASCAR from revoking their charters.
The teams, which field a combine six entries, are not guaranteed spots in the NASCAR Cup Series race. However, they are not in danger of missing this weekend’s event as there are not more than 40 teams on the entry list. Both organizations had raced as charter entries since the season began after being granted a preliminary injunction in December.
United States District Judge Kenneth Bell ruled that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports “failed to established irreparable harm to support entry of a TRO.” But the issue of the preliminary injunction (a new request filed by the teams to be recognized as charter teams through the end of the year) was not ruled on Thursday, and NASCAR told the court the charters will not be sold before the ruling is made.
“We are disappointed that the court declined to grant 23XI and Front Row Motorsports a temporary restraining order to allow the teams to continue racing as chartered teams,” said Jeffrey Kessler, the lead counsel for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports. “We remain confident that our motion for a preliminary injunction is legally warranted and necessary, and we look forward to the court’s full review.
“The court made it clear it is only denying the temporary restraining order because NASCAR has agreed to preserve our charters until the preliminary injunction can be decided and because we are assured of qualifying all our cars the next two weeks so that there will be no irreparable harm before the preliminary injunction can be fully briefed and ruled upon.
“We made the decision to bring this lawsuit to challenge NASCAR’s monopolistic practices and bullying tactics, and we are not going to let them push our teams — or others — out of the sport that they love. We are confident in the merits of our case and the teams remain focused on competing this weekend and continuing their playoff push.”
