Denny Hamlin fires back at NASCAR after winning pole, pressed whether trial is good for the sport

Today at Darlington, Denny Hamlin went out and won the pole. Afterwards, he was asked about the ongoing NASCAR lawsuit. Earlier this week, the two sides met in court for a hearing. Things got a little heated.

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are suing NASCAR. The antitrust claims made by the teams paint a picture of monopolistic practices and management by NASCAR and Jim France. Of course, France and his group do not agree with that characterization.

Denny Hamlin was asked by Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic during his post-qualifying press conference. The pole-winner addressed the week’s action in court.

“Yeah, I mean, from our side, what was shared was just talk and banter amongst ourselves and has nothing to do with the actual case itself, and we provided important documents to the case,” Hamlin responded.

He was asked about whether it is a distraction. The 23XI team has been dealing with a lot on and off the track.

“I don’t know, it’s, you know, everyone has to deal with it,” Hamlin continued. “The team deals with it. We have our own stuff that we’re having to deal with while going through this, but one thing’s for sure, 2026 will be better.”

Denny Hamlin is looking forward to 2026. Despite warnings from Judge Kenneth Bell, it appears the driver and team co-owner is still feeling confident about the situation his side is in regarding this case.

Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan had messages revealed

During the hearing on Thursday, both NASCAR and the 23XI-Front Row sides got into it a bit. Judge Bell even had to calm down the attorneys for each side as they started to delve into somewhat personal attacks about past court cases.

Messages revealed from Michael Jordan, Curtis Polk, Hamlin, and others at 23XI Racing showed displeasure with NASCAR. That is putting it lightly. There were NSFW words exchanged and a few messages that were clearly never meant to be made public. One comment essentially said nothing will improve in NASCAR until Jim France is dead.

So, things have definitely ramped up in intensity. NASCAR is still trying to keep 23XI and Front Row from rejoining the sport as fully chartered teams. The only way that happens, it seems, is through trial.

Denny Hamlin believes next year will be better. We could see an entirely different version of NASCAR when the 2026 Daytona 500 rolls around.