NASCAR Lawsuit: 23XI Internal Email Calls Denny Hamlin a “Terrible Business Man”

What’s Happening?

A newly released email shared between Michael Jordan and his CFO in the ongoing trial between NASCAR and 23XI Racing/Front Row Motorsports appears to raise questions about the financial mindset of Denny Hamlin, co-owner of Jordan’s 23XI Racing.

From exhibits released, found this somewhat intriguing … from MJ's CFO email analyzing 23XI in March 2024 … Some might consider it a knock on Denny but my guess is it's not rare for a race team to have financial people at odds with those who lead racing/competition dept. pic.twitter.com/8q56Lf5LLm

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) November 10, 2025

One of the most gripping aspects of the ongoing lawsuit between NASCAR and two of its teams, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, is the internal messages shared between members of both parties.

Though fans and industry members knew sensitive messages would have to be released as part of the trial, the interest in these messages did not take off until August. This was thanks to a public hearing, where texts and emails were shared with those in court.

Among these messages is the now well-known, and often misinterpreted, “fuck the teams” message from NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell, one from 23XI Racing co-owner, and NBA legend, Michael Jordan, calling other team owners “pussies” and Joe Gibbs Racing, a strong ally of 23XI, “fuckers”.

Now, more exhibits, including internal messages related to the trial, are public. These exhibits include a new email and an analysis of those at 23XI, sent to Jordan by his CFO.

“His Is the Only Position That Matters”

This email contains a description of Denny Hamlin, a long-time friend of Jordan’s, a NASCAR veteran, and co-owner of 23XI Racing, in which the CFO alleges the NASCAR legend “does not know as much as he thinks he does about race strategy and the other nuts and bolts of racing.”

This email is broken up into positives and negatives. The positives are rather obvious and focus on the outside view of Hamlin as a NASCAR icon, as well as his efforts on track and in the sport to promote 23XI Racing.

Though the negatives are somewhat more in-depth, saying that Hamlin “relies on regurgitating what Chris Gabehart says as if it were gospel.” It is no secret that Hamlin and his former Crew Chief, Chris Gabehart, were close, but this is an unusual take on their relationship, as many drivers rely heavily on a trusted crew chief.

But perhaps most interesting of all in this email is the broader question about Hamlin as a businessman, saying:

“He is a terrible businessman. He ascribes to the dumb theory that if spend more money it will tannate into wins and speed. This is only true to a small extent.”

The email further states that Hamlin tells the team, “money is no object,” which leads to poor decision-making for those at 23XI Racing.

The review of Hamlin also brings in 23XI Racing co-owner and long-time Jordan business partner, Curtis Polk. The CFO claims that if he and Polk disagree with the NASCAR legend, Hamlin accuses them of “not valuing him,” though the email also notes that this is “very far from the truth.”

While these words can be viewed in a harsh light, it is important to understand the context of this email.

After all, the job of a CFO is to scrutinize the financial status of their company with complete honesty. This high level of scrutiny becomes all the more crucial in a sport like racing, where, as many have learned throughout this lawsuit, finances are and always have been tight.

While this is far from the first internal message shared in this lawsuit, we have seen similar scrutiny from individuals like Steve O’Donnell, who, in his “fuck the teams” message, was targeting NASCAR over a draft of the 2025 NASCAR Charter Agreement that he felt had unfavorable terms for the charter-owning teams.

Nonetheless, without a settlement in sight, it is likely that more unfiltered messages and emails, like this one, will be made public, all of which will contribute to the trial scheduled for December 1.

We have extensively covered all aspects of this lawsuit via the timeline linked below.

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