Denny Hamlin sends ominous threat to NASCAR in response losing charter status

This week, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are officially unchartered teams. Denny Hamlin commented on the situation. Dover Motor Speedway is the first NASCAR weekend where both teams will race all three of their cars as open entries.

Now, there is no worry about anyone missing the show this weekend. There aren’t enough entries for that to happen. However, this puts the teams in a tough position moving forward. Barring a preliminary injunction from the district court, the teams will be open entries for the rest of the season, at least.

Denny Hamlin was asked by the media today at Dover about the situation. He left things a bit vague and ominous.

“If you want answers and you want to understand why this is all happening, come [to the trial] December 1st,” Hamlin said, via Jeff Gluck of The Athletic. “You’ll get the answers you’re looking for and all will be exposed.”

Here's @dennyhamlin's comment on 23XI Racing now running as open cars after losing charter status:

"If you want answers and you want to understand why this is all happening, come (to the trial) December 1st. You'll get the answers you're looking for and all will be exposed."

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) July 19, 2025

“Exposed” sounds like a pretty strong word in this situation. Denny Hamlin is still focused on taking this thing to trial. At this point, the teams are in a corner. A trial is likely the only way that they can regain leverage on NASCAR and try to win this case.

So, the situation is complicated. There are many misconceptions about what this lawsuit is about. Some think it is just about charters, but it does go far beyond that, as 23XI and FRM’s legal team has reiterated at multiple points in time.

Denny Hamlin is in between a rock and a hard place

The trial on December 1st is going to be major. This could completely change the business model that NASCAR operates on, and could even bring changes to the Next Gen car. This goes beyond the wording in the charter agreement for the teams.

23XI and FRM have expressed to the court that NASCAR is committing not just one act of antitrust behavior with the charter agreement clause that keeps teams from taking legal action against the sanctioning body. There are other points that have been made to support the argument that NASCAR is a monopoly.

Among those points: Buying ARCA (next best competitor to NASCAR), owning a large amount of high-quality facilities for auto racing in America, Next Gen single-source suppliers and intellectual property issues, as well as non-compete agreements and even limiting Cup drivers from competing in the Xfinity and Truck Series. There is a whole spectrum of alleged violations that the teams have expressed.

While Denny Hamlin continues to chase a championship, this won’t go away. The lawsuit is going to go to trial, and from there, anything can happen. What will the 2026 NASCAR season even look like?