The NASCAR garage reacts to the lawsuit: “It’s another edition of the soap opera” Trendy Blogger

TALLADEGA, Ala. — As Denny Hamlin digested the reaction to his racing team’s filing of an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR this week, his fiancée Jordan Fish sent him a clip from the movie “Moneyball.”

“The first guy through the wall, he’s still bleeding,” says the actor who plays Boston Red Sox owner John Henry in the film. “It not only threatens the way of doing business, but, in their minds, it threatens the game. In reality, it threatens their livelihood and their jobs. This threatens the way they do things.

Hamlin found the clip relevant after 23XI Racing, the team he co-owns with Michael Jordan, joined Front Row Motorsports on Wednesday in accusing NASCAR of being a monopoly in federal court. The reaction has been positive, Hamlin said, from those who want to see the status quo challenged — and it has eased his mind as he tries to force his way into the third round of the playoffs .

“It’s not like one day we woke up and said, ‘This is going to happen,'” Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, said before qualifying eighth for Sunday’s NASCAR playoff race at Talladega. Superspeedway. “We’ve been talking about it for a while. It’s relieved me to focus more on (driving) the No. 11 car and everything I have to do there since (the trial) is over and now there are other people talking about it. legality point of view.

While it may have taken some time for Hamlin, others in the NASCAR garage were still processing the latest news and what the outcome could mean for the future of NASCAR and its racing teams.

“It’s obviously the biggest story in sports,” said driver and owner Brad Keselowski of RFK Racing. “It’s another edition of the soap opera ‘As The World Turns: NASCAR’. We will all find out together (how it will happen).

Keselowski said he “wouldn’t expect” his team to join the chase, a sentiment echoed by six-time champion owner Richard Childress. RFK and Richard Childress Racing both signed the 2025 charter agreement last month, which contains a provision prohibiting teams from taking antitrust action against NASCAR. (23XI and Front Row refused to sign it.)

But Childress said the teams were pressured to sign the new deals, a claim that was made in the lawsuit.

“We had no choice but to sign them,” Childress said. “It was just, ‘You sign it or you lose your charters.’ I couldn’t take that gamble, period. And I know a lot of homeowners I talked to felt the same way.

So, is NASCAR a monopoly, according to him?

“I’ll put it like this: If you want to race, you race in their park if you want to race in NASCAR,” Childress said.

NASCAR again declined to comment Saturday and has yet to issue a public response to the lawsuit. A court filing says 23XI and Front Row will file a preliminary injunction next week, after which NASCAR must respond in its own filing within two weeks.

Meanwhile, drivers said they were closely following the story in the media and several agreed it was the biggest story to happen in NASCAR in years.

“It’s huge for our sport, no matter what,” said Team Penske driver Joey Logano. “It’s obviously huge because we’ve never seen it before.”

But many said they weren’t sure of the outcome, and so didn’t have a strong opinion one way or the other.

“I would like to see our sport become more successful,” said Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron. “Looking at other professional sports and where we could be, I’m excited about that. So I hope that comes to fruition.

Curtis Polk, co-owner of 23XI, caught the attention of some drivers this week after he said their salaries were only a fraction of what other athletes make compared to the overall revenues of various sports leagues. Driver salaries, which are not publicly disclosed, have fallen precipitously since their peak in the mid-2000s, NASCAR executives have repeatedly said.

“We’re probably one of the only sports, otherwise THE “It’s the only sport where athlete salaries have declined over the last two decades,” said Hendrick driver Kyle Larson. “Obviously we would like to see an upward trend rather than the other way around. But teams probably need to make a lot more money to be able to viably pay the people who work for their organizations.

23XI drivers Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick expressed full support for the actions taken by their team owners, as did Front Row driver Michael McDowell.

“I’m an advocate for change and I stand for change, that’s what I consider it,” said Wallace, the only black driver in the Cup Series. “It’s a crazy time to be in NASCAR, but I support my team 100 percent and we’ll see where it takes us.”

McDowell, who won pole position for Sunday’s race, said he was convinced there was no simpler, more efficient organization than Front Row – and yet, team owner , Bob Jenkins, still had to invest “millions and millions and millions” of dollars into the team. be competitive, even from a distance.

“If he has to spend his own money, there’s a problem,” McDowell said.

As for Hamlin, he was asked if he thought 23XI’s financial commitment to the sport had been appreciated by NASCAR. He pursed his lips and paused for 10 long seconds before finally answering.

“Probably not,” he said.

(Photo by Denny Hamlin during Saturday qualifying at Talladega: Sean Gardner/Getty Images)