Inside The Garage: With NASCAR Lawsuit in Rearview, What Does it Mean for Drivers?

Here’s what’s happening this week Inside The Garage: That 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports will field an extra car to attempt to make the Daytona 500 this week is just a subtle sign of what it meant to get through their lawsuit against NASCAR before the start of the 2026 season. Both organizations had told employees they would have jobs in 2026 even if they lost their lawsuit and didn’t have guaranteed spots for any of their cars in the field. But whether they would field three full-time cars, let alone a fourth car on occasion, appeared optimistic at best. And for them to be around in 2027 was doubtful. Now the drivers and crew members have nothing to worry about. The organizations have their charters and appear on much more solid footing for the future. “I look at it from the people that showed up to work each and every day knowing that there was something of that magnitude looming, and they still gave their effort to build us the fastest race cars to the best of their abilities and they didn’t let that affect them,” 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace told me. “But we’re not naive to the fact that are we shutting doors? Who knows? The big unknown there. And they were able to put that aside. Now, with all that going away, I can only imagine there’s a massive sigh of relief for them, they can continue to do what they do, show up and give their best effort.” [MORE NASCAR: 20 Most Memorable Moments in Daytona 500 History] After eight days of testimony in December in the antitrust case, the sides settled with 23XI and FRM getting most of what they wanted as far as various ancillary revenues and, most importantly, evergreen charters and more collective bargaining for the teams with NASCAR. “I really was never super worried, but when the trial time came, it definitely ramped up the nerves a little bit I’m sure for everybody in the whole company” FRM driver Todd Gilliland told me. “And I think one of the coolest things is you probably had one or two people leave over the offseason. “Just to see how many people stuck as a team with Front Row Motorsports, and then now to be past it and through it to the other side. I think there’s a lot of excitement. Same drivers, a lot of the same team members, and no black cloud kind of lingering over us.” The drivers pretty much were free agents once the teams lost their charters during the summer. Driver contracts typically are written requiring they race a chartered car. None of them bolted. “I haven’t really changed anything,” 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick told reporters in mid-January. “As a driver, I feel like I do my part to be one of the best, and hopefully again, regardless of the outcome, I still get asked [to do that].” Reddick said he felt everyone just focused on their jobs. For team members, it is something they know they can’t control and the racing industry is one of constant change — it’s sports and a performance-based business with decisions not always done with empathy. But especially for employees with families, the uncertainty of a race team can cause a great deal of angst. “It is nice that it’s behind us,” Reddick said last week in a media conference call prior to the Clash. “It’s done, and it’s in the past.” For 23XI Racing, an organization that entered the sport in 2021 with NBA great Michael Jordan as a co-owner with driver Denny Hamlin, their leadership has often portrayed the organization as one seeking to change the way people look at the sport. “What we said from Day 1 about this team is we want to be different,” Wallace said. “We want to push for change in a positive way, and if we have to ruffle some feathers then so be it. But I stand 100 percent behind my team and thankful for the opportunity.” No More Roval NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway decided that they will no longer compete on the Charlotte road course, opting for an oval race in the Chase. The Cup race will be 400 miles, the O’Reilly race will be 300 miles and the truck race will be 201 miles. With the improvement in the racing on the 1.5-mile tracks with the Next Gen car and the return of the Chase (meaning it won’t be an elimination race) made officials feel like this would be a good time to make the change. “As the Chase returns, we are putting a spotlight on performance while honoring the tracks and traditions that have defined championship moments,” NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell said in a news release. “Charlotte Motor Speedway’s historic oval has played a central role in some of the sport’s most memorable races, so bringing the Chase back to the 1.5-mile configuration for our fans simply felt right.” The elimination of the Charlotte road course means there won’t be a road course in the 10-race postseason. News & Notes –Brad Keselowski has been cleared to race after an on-track test today (Feb. 9) at Charlotte Motor Speedway. A Jan. 30 x-ray on his broken right leg showed enough healing that doctors approved him getting back in the car, but he still needed to get in and out of the car and show he could work the pedals before determining whether he could race in the Daytona 500. Keselowski: “Getting cleared was a huge moment for me. You put in the work, you trust the process, but until you hear that final ‘yes,’ nothing is guaranteed.” –Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and four-time INDYCAR champion Dario Franchitti will compete in the NASCAR truck race Feb. 28 at St. Petersburg. Franchitti has returned to racing in the last year for the first time since a crash in 2013 ended his INDYCAR career. Franchitti ran 10 Cup races for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2008 as well as 18 races in O’Reilly in 2007-08 before ending his attempt to transition to NASCAR. He will drive the Tricon No. 1 truck at St. Pete with sponsorship from Dollar Tree through a partnership with Franchitti good friend Jimmie Johnson and Legacy Motor Club. [MORE INDYCAR: Mick Schumacher Takes First Oval Test at Homestead] –The truck race at Daytona this weekend will feature several notable drivers who don’t race regularly in the series. Former Cup champion Tony Stewart is driving for Kaulig as part of Ram’s entry into the sport. Travis Pastrana is driving for Niece Motorsports, as is YouTube personality and racer Cleetus McFarland. Also in the field will be current Cup drivers Michael McDowell, Carson Hocevar, John Hunter Nemeche and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as well as Corey LaJoie. –23XI Racing announced that Corey Heim will compete in 12 Cup races this year, starting with the Daytona 500. Bootie Barker will be the crew chief. –Two big INDYCAR tests await in the next couple of weeks. Several teams are taking a driver to Sebring for a test today and Tuesday (Feb. 9-10) to work on road-course setups. The first oval test of the year is Feb. 17-10 at Phoenix, where they will race just a few weeks later. –NASCAR announced that seeding for its in-season tournament will be by point standings following the 14th race of the year at Pocono. That keeps the race at Naval Base Coronado (a first-time event) from having an impact on the seedings. The five races for the challenge are again the TNT races: Sonoma, Chicagoland, Atlanta, North Wilkesboro and Indianapolis. –In other in-season special-event news: The O’Reilly Dash 4 Cash races will be Bristol, Kansas, Talladega and Texas; the triple-truck challenge races will be Darlington, Rockingham and Bristol. Why The Call? Why did NASCAR allow teams to re-fuel in the Clash when they could have started on fuel and been OK? “It’s the first time we’ve run that [750hp] engine at an actual race with a higher horsepower, for one, so was our data totally accurate that we went into? We believe it is,” NASCAR Cup Series Director Brad Moran said during a media briefing the day after the Clash to go over 2026 rules. “What we were managing from our side is that we had way more cautions than we’ve ever had, we don’t really have a pit road that you could just allow fuel anytime, we don’t have our fire protection in every [area]. … With nobody gaining or losing spots on pit road, we felt the best decision at that point was to let them top off and come back out.” Some teams felt those who gambled on fuel — so they could have a weight advantage — should have paid the price. But Moran said with the race already going so long and the potential of more cautions happening because of drivers running out of fuel that “we didn’t want that to be the entire story on how the race ended.” Sweet Rides We will post some of our favorite paint schemes here. How about these liveries introduced by Arrow McLaren for the 2026 INDYCAR season? Stat Of The Week No driver has won his first Daytona 500 after his 20th start (that was Dale Earnhardt in 1998). Kyle Busch will be making his 21st start. They Said It “Yeah, a non-points race, but winning at this level is not freaking easy. So I’m proud.” —Ryan Preece after winning the Clash to open the 2026 NASCAR season. In Inside The Garage, Bob Pockrass takes us behind the scenes of the motorsports world the way only he can.