Hamlin won't guarantee 23XI will be at Daytona 500 after judge's ruling

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Denny Hamlin, along with Michael Jordan the co-owner of 23XI Racing, for the first time is not guaranteeing their team will field cars at the start of the next season.

His indecision at Phoenix Raceway came a day after a federal judge denied a temporary injunction that would have recognized 23XI and Front Row Motorsports as chartered teams as they continue their antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and chairman Jim France.

“I think it’s all TBD," Hamlin said Saturday. "There’s certain things that we’re going to have to navigate, so I hope so.”

There is a clause in the new charter agreements that begin next season that teams cannot sue NASCAR, and both teams asked this week in court for it to be waived and for the teams to be chartered as they proceed with their suit. The two organizations are the only ones out of 15 that declined to sign the take-it-or-leave-it agreements presented to teams 48 hours before the start of the playoffs in September.

“We’re obviously pleased with the ruling that the judge sees merits in the case. He’s going to move forward to expedite it and expedite the discovery side of it,” Hamlin said. "Obviously, judging on it without prejudice and obviously giving us an opportunity to refile once the situation changes, because he knows that things will change over the next few months, obviously he understands the complexity of it and obviously understands that this situation is fluid and we obviously could see some pretty bad harm coming up.”

Both 23XI and Front Row field two cars each and have entered into purchase agreements to acquire a third charter per organization from Stewart-Haas Racing. They've insisted they will compete next year no matter what, even as “open” teams that lack the protections of chartered teams.

Non-chartered teams do not receive the same amount of revenue and are not guaranteed a spot in all 38 races. The teams have argued that if they are not chartered, their sponsors and drivers can leave because they aren't assured spots in every Sprint Cup race.

Asked Saturday if 23XI still plans to attend the exhibition Clash and the Daytona 500, Hamlin for the first time waffled. He also said he does not know the status of the pending purchase of an SHR charter. NASCAR has rescinded the original charter offers made to 23XI and Front Row, and has said it will have 32 charters next year instead of 36.

23XI Racing has Tyler Reddick in Sunday's winner-take-all Cup championship race at Phoenix and Hamlin indicated NASCAR doesn't care if the team collapses or Reddick leaves after winning the title.

Martin Truex Jr. won the title in 2017 driving for Furniture Row Racing, and the team went out of business the next season.

“Furniture Row did it. They ceased to exist after a championship," Hamlin said. "I think that depending who you ask, I think on one side they could care less whether you’re here or not and for us, we certainly have got a lot of people that have put their heart and souls into this team and want to see it succeed.

"And certainly, we’ve got an obligation to our team to try to do everything we can to have a fair system. So, we’re just one of the ones that got stuck on the front line and so it’s part of it. Trust me, there’s nothing more we want than to win this weekend. Certainly, there’s a lot of emphasis on trying to win this race and Tyler is going to give it his best go. This is a really, really new team and certainly it was an accomplishment to get to this point.”

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