What’s Happening?

Denny Hamlin, despite not winning since earlier this season, is the center of attention in NASCAR. That’s because 23XI Racing, the team he co-owns with longtime friend Michael Jordan, is suing NASCAR on antitrust accusations. However, this is far from the first time Hamlin and NASCAR have butted heads.

• The lawsuit involves the new NASCAR Charter Agreement. The Charter Agreement allows charter-owning teams valuable revenue sharing and automatic entry into NASCAR points races. There were just two holdouts, one of which was 23XI.
• 23XI and family-owned Front Row Motorsports were two of 15 teams that refused to sign. At the time, this seemed foolish, as the two teams were at risk of losing their combined four charters. However, they had a plan in mind.
• On Oct. 3, 23XI and FRM announced a joint Lawsuit against NASCAR. However, the suit is not just about the Charter Agreement but also about a host of accusations that NASCAR is operating an Unlawful Monopoly. With this case headed to the courts, Hamlin not only kept but also backed up several comments he made about NASCAR this year.

Ten Years, Not Much of a Difference

Last year was a great example of NASCAR and Denny getting into it. In 2023, Denny led a Criminal Minds-level investigation, which criticized both NASCAR and Chase Elliott and led to Chase Elliott’s suspension.

However, the reasoning for this investigation was Denny’s comments on Action’s Detrimental, which stated that he intentionally wrecked Ross Chastain at Phoenix that sping. NASCAR fined Hamlin $50,000 and 25 points for the action.

This fine unintentionally led Hamlin to run his campaign to have Chase Elliott punished for wrecking Hamlin during the Coke 600 at Charlotte. Hamiln even pulled up the SMT data from Chase’s car as one of his many “receipts.”

Hamlin targeted not only NASCAR’s most popular driver but also NASCAR itself. He wanted the sport to show Elliott the same level of scrutiny he had faced earlier that season.

The incident with Chastain was not Hamlin’s first time seeing his words turn into money out of his pocket. In 2013, NASCAR fined Hamlin for “disparaging remarks.” Those remarks were about NASCAR’s then-new Gen-6 car, and ironically, it was, much like the Chastain comments, following a race at Phoenix.

NASCAR fined Hamlin $25,000 for these comments, which Hamlin initially refused to pay but ultimately did.

As we now know, this was just a taste of Hamlin’s opinions of NASCAR. As we have learned this year, when Hamlin has skin in the game, he’s ready to fight.

No Shortage of Comments in 2024

This year, Denny has been as controversial as ever. But rather than targeting these comments at his “haters,” Hamlin targeted many of his remarks at the sport itself. This targeting was due in part to NASCAR and its teams’ ongoing Charter Negotiations.

When 23XI held out on signing the NASCAR Charter Agreement, he was blunt in his response, telling the media that as the first driver to invest in NASCAR, he hasn’t seen much of a return on NASCAR’s end.

What about earlier this season when Hamlin bluntly told the media that while Brad Keselowski thought the Charter Agreement was close to done, he thought it was going to take more time?

Aside from Charter talks, Hamlin hasn’t been nice to NASCAR. For example, Hamlin joined fan outrage when NASCAR removed the scoring pylon at Talladega prior to the track Spring Race weekend.

This year, Denny was a leading man in the pursuit of Austin Dillon following his spin and win of Hamlin and Logano at the fall Richmond race. Following the incident, Hamlin said on his podcast that NASCAR needs to step up and take action against Dillon.

“This is just part of being the big-boy, and NASCAR is the big-boy, and they have to make big-boy decisions, sometimes in the best interest of their sport.” — Denny Hamlin, Actions Detrimental.

2024 has been a year of Denny and NASCAR butting heads. However, NASCAR is rather quiet about it. But, it now appears that Hamlin is going to make NASCAR talk about their issues, but rather than in a media room, it will be in a courtroom.

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