In the NASCAR-themed movie “Days of Thunder,” there’s a memorable scene where the character Big John, based on NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., warns two drivers who are having conflicts on the track.
Frustrated with their reckless behavior, Big John tells them about the potential consequences if they continue to crash into each other.
He says, “You trade paint one more time, you so much as touch, I’m gonna black flag the two of you, and take apart your race cars for 300 laps. Then, if you pass inspection and you put your cars back together, I might let you back into the race.”
This scene reflects how NASCAR operates, with its officials having the authority to enforce rules as they see fit. This has been the case since the France family started NASCAR in 1948, when cars often struggle to pass inspection due to various infractions or when certain teams find themselves “randomly selected” for detailed inspections repeatedly.
Should 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports be concerned?
The two teams recently filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, claiming “anti-competitive terms” in a charter agreement made last month. This lawsuit will be a key topic as the season progresses, with six more races left in the playoffs.
23XI Racing is co-owned by former NBA star Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner who also drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. The team competes with drivers Bubba Wallace and regular-season champion Tyler Reddick, who are both aiming for the Cup Series title.
Front Row Motorsports doesn’t have any playoff drivers, but that doesn’t mean their cars will escape close examination starting Friday when inspections begin at Talladega Superspeedway.
Hamlin, who has already faced a serious penalty this season, expressed hope that NASCAR won’t take any actions against him, his cars, his teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing, or the Front Row drivers.
“I have enough faith in them that they’re going to be professionals,” Hamlin said. “They can separate Denny the driver that’s on the racetrack on Sunday from Denny that’s the owner on Monday through Friday. Certainly, there’s been things in the past that have been conspiracy theories, but you can’t get into that stuff.
“Certainly, they’ll respect myself and my (JGR) team because right now the most important thing to me is trying to run for this championship over the next six weeks.” Talladega is a challenging track with strict safety rules that can sometimes be applied inconsistently.
For instance, there is a yellow line around the Alabama superspeedway, and drivers are not allowed to use it to gain an advantage or force another driver below the line to keep their position.
It’s the officials in the NASCAR scoring tower who make the calls on yellow line violations. This rule was heavily examined in 2008 when Tony Stewart was named the winner at Talladega, even though Regan Smith crossed the finish line first.
Smith had gone below the yellow line to get ahead of Stewart, who had clearly pushed Smith out of bounds with a blocking move.
Smith felt he was cheated by NASCAR’s decision. “I always got told that the rule is, if you get forced down there, then you’re the winner of the race and on the last lap, anything goes,” Smith said that day. “I got forced down there.”
Just one year earlier, in a Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway, Johnny Benson went below the yellow line in a tight finish. NASCAR ruled that Benson’s move was allowed because the rule had some flexibility: if a driver can see the checkered flag, then essentially anything goes during the final push to the finish line.
This Sunday, if Hamlin, Reddick, or any of the drivers from teams involved in the lawsuit against NASCAR get close to the yellow line, it’s uncertain how the ruling will turn out.
23XI and Front Row have hired Jeffrey Kessler, a well-known antitrust lawyer, to represent them. He said he isn’t worried.
“My experience is that having a lot of cases against sports leagues and organizations is that their lawyers advise them, ‘Do not mess around with the other side because that’s the worst thing you can do’ when I call on them in court,” Kessler said.
“We don’t usually see players face retribution, we don’t see our other plaintiffs face retribution, and I would be surprised if it happens here. But if it does, we certainly know what to do about it.”
Hamlin goes into Talladega ranked fifth in the playoff standings. Reddick, who drives for 23XI and won in Alabama this spring, is ninth and could be out of the playoffs if he doesn’t finish in the top eight after next week’s elimination race in Charlotte.
