Denny Hamlin didn’t mince words in federal court this week. Signing NASCAR’s charter deal, he testified, would have been like signing his own “death certificate.”
The veteran driver and co-owner of 23XI Racing with basketball legend Michael Jordan took the stand Monday in an antitrust lawsuit that has pulled back the curtain on the precarious finances of even the sport’s most prominent teams. The case, brought by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR, alleges the racing body operates as a monopoly that forces teams into financially untenable positions.
“I didn’t sign because I knew this was my death certificate for the future,” Hamlin testified about rejecting NASCAR’s latest charter proposal, according to court records.
Just how expensive is it to compete at NASCAR’s highest level? Hamlin revealed it costs a staggering $20 million to field a single car for a full 38-race season — and that figure doesn’t include overhead, operating costs, or driver salaries. In 2022 alone, his team spent more than $703,000 just on fees to NASCAR for basics like entry fees, credentials for team members, and even access to internet signals at tracks.
“All it takes is one sponsor to go away and all our profit is gone,” Hamlin said, highlighting the razor-thin margins teams operate under despite the massive investment required. He and Jordan have poured approximately $100 million into building 23XI Racing.
A Dying Business Model?
Perhaps the most damning evidence of NASCAR’s economic model came when Hamlin testified that 11 of the 19 original charter organizations from 2016 are now out of business. His own team’s three charters all came from defunct operations that couldn’t survive the financial pressures of the sport.
The financial strain appears widespread. Plaintiffs’ attorney Jeffrey Kessler told jurors that a NASCAR-commissioned study found that 75% of teams lost money in 2024, revealed during opening statements.
When teams tried to negotiate better terms, Hamlin claims NASCAR shut them down. The last charter proposal “had eight points minimum that needed to be changed. When we pointed that out we were told ‘Negotiations are closed,'” he testified.
Competing For Their Own Sponsors
Adding insult to injury? Hamlin described how NASCAR actively competes against its own teams for sponsorship dollars.
“When they’re trying to attract sponsors, they’re also competing against NASCAR for those sponsors,” Hamlin said. He claimed NASCAR regularly calls team sponsors “trying to get them to leave the team and then be a sponsor of NASCAR” instead, further undermining teams’ financial stability.
Even NASCAR’s much-touted new TV deal hasn’t been the lifeline teams hoped for. Hamlin explained that major sponsors still want traditional television exposure rather than streaming platforms, where much of the new deal’s content will appear.
Public vs. Private Statements
Why hasn’t Hamlin been more vocal about these issues before? Under cross-examination, he admitted his more positive public comments about NASCAR — including those on his popular podcast — are influenced by fear of retribution.
“You can take all my things out of context and paint a picture that everything is fine,” Hamlin stated. “The reality is, (being) negative affects me in (technical inspection), getting called to the hauler, NASCAR not liking what I said.”
The disconnect between public perception and private reality extended to discussions with NASCAR leadership. Hamlin recounted a meeting with NASCAR chairman Jim France, who suggested teams are simply overspending and should be able to field competitive cars for just $10 million each — half of what Hamlin claims is actually required.
For its part, NASCAR argues it created a $1.5 billion equity market for teams through the charter system and that teams can negotiate individually. But according to Hamlin’s testimony, when teams tried to do exactly that, they were told negotiations were closed.
How will this high-stakes legal battle reshape America’s premier motorsport? The answer could determine not just the future of 23XI Racing, but the economic model for all NASCAR teams going forward.
“All three of 23XI’s charters came from teams that ceased operations,” Hamlin testified — a sobering reminder that even with Michael Jordan’s star power and deep pockets behind them, survival in NASCAR’s current economic climate remains anything but a victory lap.
