Denny Hamlin speaks out on 23XI Racing's troubling NASCAR lawsuit court visit

23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin has spoken out about a court hearing in his and Michael Jordan's team's lawsuit against NASCAR this week.

Friday's hearing appeared on the surface to be a negative one for 23XI and Front Row Motorsports, with the three-judge appeal panel indicating that they could reverse the ruling granting the teams charter status.

That would have a massive impact on both teams, meaning at best that they would both be forced to qualify race by race as open entry teams and at worst that their star drivers – contracts dependent – could simply walk away.

Hamlin wasn't present as Friday's hearing as he geared up for this weekend's Cup Series race at Kansas, but he spoke to the media ahead of the race about what he'd heard from his team's side.

Hamlin: We're still confident in our case against NASCAR

Speaking after qualifying on Saturday, Hamlin said: "You know, they're telling me kind of what's going on. I didn't get to hear it live or anything like that. But we're overall pretty confident in our case."

The ruling in question is nothing to do with 23XI and FRM's overall case against NASCAR, but is instead specifically relating to an injunction which obliges the sport to let them race as charter teams while the lawsuit makes its way through court.

"You know, the judges haven't made any kind of ruling," Hamlin added, "so until they do, then we're going to stay status quo."

Judge Steven Agee encouraged both sides to meet for mediation to attempt to come to a compromise, but that currently seems unlikely – with NASCAR attorney Chris Yates saying: "We're not going to rewrite the charter."

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