With a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia overturning a district judge ruling that forced NASCAR to recognize 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports as de facto chartered teams, the Sanctioning Body has now formally modified its entry requirements for each remaining race this season.
The changes, published to the digital NASCAR rule book on Monday, now effectively locks 23XI and Front Row into every race albeit without the financial perks associated with having charters.
Read more: What is NASCAR’s charter system and how it works
As a result of the decision of the Fourth Circuit of Appeals, there are only 30 Cup Series teams that currently have charters (or chartered status) with 10 spots remaining each race for teams without. Those teams are referred to as ‘open’ entries.
But what happens if there are 41 entries at a race moving forward? Prior to Monday, the two teams suing NASCAR could conceivably miss a race, which would have added fuel to their argument over imminent harm as a reason for the district judge to consider a new injunction motion to restore their chartered status for the remainder of the season.
The new rule locks the top six charted teams in the standings to any race with the remaining four based on the results of time trials. It’s unlikely that a race will have over 40 entries as only the Daytona 500 each year since the advent of the current generation car exceeded that threshold prior to the race at Chicago earlier in the month.
However, that race was before the ruling was enforced by the Fourth Circuit and 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace would have been the DNF for that race, and it was likely a point made in the sealed court documents last week with the teams issuing a new motion to regain its chartered status.
This is seemingly a move by NASCAR to counter that narrative, not unlike the move it made in January to strip the 10.3 release clause from the open agreement (identical to the one found in the charter agreement) that prevented participating teams from bringing litigation against the Sanctioning Body.
That clause is one of the pillars of 23XI and Front Row’s federal antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR which resulted in a countersuit.
Read more: Why two Cup teams and NASCAR are suing each other
Now 23XI Racing and Front Row are effectively set to compete in every race for the remainder of the season with the antitrust lawsuit and countersuit moving towards a December 1 trial.
